One Year Contract
by CosmicButton
Summary: Gabriella Montez works at a magazine. Her boss asks her to marry his famous son Troy Bolton who is a basketball player on the LA Lakers team. However there is a catch in one year he will divorce her unless he falls in love with her. Will she accept? TxG
1. The Boss' Famous Son

**The Boss' Famous Son**

Gabriella was having a bad day and it was just getting worse…she was told by the boss' assistant that the boss wanted to see her. This couldn't be good the boss only ever called people to go into his office when he was about to fire them. Gabriella could not afford to get fired from her job at magazine company POISE, she needed the income it was the only way she could afford to take care of her family which consisted of her mother, her father, her older brother Dean and her younger brother Sam. She didn't need to pay for her older brothers' necessities since he had a job being an accountant. He could pay for some of the things the rest of the family needed however it was mainly Gabriella who paid for her parents' bills and Sam's college funds. Her parents couldn't pay for everything since they both had unsustainable jobs.

Dean was 25 years old and had always been overprotective of Gabriella since she was the only daughter in the family. He had always stood up for her when she was in trouble with their parents or beat up any of the kids who had teased her or made her feel inferior. Gabriella remembered when she started high school how some of the cheerleaders at her school kept calling her math freak or geeky Gabi. When Dean found out he yelled at them and they shut their mouths at once since Dean was the football captain. From then on they just gave Gabriella silent death glares.

Sam was 20 years old and had been the cleverest of all the children in the Montez family; he was even at Harvard University studying law. Even though Gabriella was proud of her younger brother she got very annoyed whenever she had to pay for his studies, she had to pay so much because he was attending a top university in America. Sam wasn't one for sports he preferred politics hence why he wanted to be a barrister. However he did like to go to their parents' house occasionally and watch a game of basketball every now and then with Dean.

Gabriella's day was destined to be bad as soon as Gabriella had started the day by falling off her bed when the alarm went off she even managed to get a bruise on her back from the fall. She then spent ages choosing her clothes but as soon as she entered the kitchen she got out some butter and jam from the cupboard and as she was walking to the counter she slipped on a piece of paper that was left on the floor, she managed spill the butter and jam all over her shirt. This frustrated her more than ever as she was already running late for work. She changed her whole outfit and decided to skip breakfast altogether. When she arrived at work she discovered that she had lost all the work she had done the previous night.

As Gabriella started walking to the boss's office she silently said goodbye to the walls the pictures and anything she could see as she was walking past. Gabriella stood outside the door and took a few deep breaths before silently pushing the door open. As she looked up at the boss she saw that he hadn't noticed her enter so she lightly knocked on the door to get his attention. His head shot up from the work he was looking at.

"Ah Miss Montez please come in. Take a seat I have been meaning to talk to you these past few days," Mr Bolton said.

"Yes sir, so why is it that you called me here?" Gabriella asked the man aged between 40 to 50 years old whilst silently praying to the gods above not to let her get fired.

"Well you see Miss Montez…" Mr Bolton started to say before he was interrupted.

"It's alright I completely understand, I guess I'll just start packing my things. I guess I expected this I mean my work has never been up to the standard set it's amazing that I've lasted so long at this job. At my previous jobs I would only last a week or so but I mean this job has been going for nearly a year now," Gabriella rambled.

"Miss Montez if you would quit rambling I would like to actually tell you why I have called you into my office and it is not because I want to fire you," Mr Bolton replied back with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Oh yes I'm sorry," Gabriella said her face turning to a light shade of red due to her embarrassment. However she was glad to hear that she was not going to be fired and was thanking the gods above.

"Your work here Miss Montez has proven to be of high standard and I am beyond pleased. Your work shows great passion, commitment and wit. I was just going through your work here on Duran Duran's Red Carpet Massacre review and I must admit that I was surprised by how much you know about music and how very carefully you listened to the beats Timbaland produced and the backing vocals by Justin Timberlake. You must have a knack for writing and know your stuff when it comes to music."

"Thanks," whispered Gabriella. She was having the shock of a lifetime she had never received so many compliments, well except from her family but they just did it because it was a requirement. All families gave each other compliments right?

"Anyway so that it why I decided to promote you," Mr Bolton said with a wide smile on his face. Gabriella froze, she was getting a promotion?

"A promotion? How is that possible I haven't even been here for a year, I don't think it's fair some people have been here for years."

"Ah but Miss Montez none of their work has ever been as amazing to read as yours. Actually I wanted to ask you something else as well that also ties in with the promotion. If you take this promotion you will be moving to Los Angeles. Since you will be going to L.A, I was wondering if maybe you would consider marrying my son who lives in L.A." Mr Bolton proclaimed.

Gabriella could barely move too much was trying to be processed. If she were to take the promotion she would have to move from New York to Los Angeles? How was she going to tell her family that? And here boss wants her to marry his son? How is that possible? She didn't even know his bloody name. She had always pictured meeting her knight in shining armour after he saved her and then riding of to the horizon. Okay so it was a stupid fantasy but she was a hopeless romantic. What would happen if she said no? Would he take away the promotion? Would he fire her? So many questions were spinning round in Gabriella's head she didn't know what to tell him.

"I…I umm… I need to t…think ab…bout it," Gabriella managed to stutter out.

"Sure just get back to me as soon as possible," Gabriella's boss replied. Gabriella slowly got out of the chair and walked out of the office. Still in a daze she sat down at her desk. She noticed that some people were staring at her. Did they all hear what he just told her? No that couldn't be it. Was there something on her face? Gabriella quickly picked up the mirror on her table. Her face seemed to look like it always did to her. She quickly grabbed the women next her desk and asked her why people were staring at her.

"Isn't it obvious, people are amazed that you're still at your seat everyone thought that you were gonna be fired. Also your face is really pale," the woman with blonde her replied.

"Right thanks," Gabriella replied. Meanwhile Mr Bolton sat in his office and looked at his photo of Troy, his son.

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

3 DAYS AGO

Troy and his dad entered the house that Troy's parents lived in, in Albuquerque.

"So son how is the training for the upcoming season?" Jack Bolton asked his son.

"It's going great dad this season is gonna be great dad I just know it. Man you know it still hasn't sunk in that I have been playing for the LA Lakers for nearly 3 years now. I can't picture my life any better than it already is," Troy replied.

"I can," Jack answered sternly.

"Huh?" Troy questioned.

"It would be so much better if you had a wife your life could be absolutely perfect once you have a wife," Jack said.

"Dad I don't want a wife. I am 23 years old for goodness sake. I am still young, I don't plan on getting married till at least 29ish." Troy replied with an annoyed tone.

"Oh please can't you do this for me and your mother we really want you to settle down so that we can have little grandchildren running around the room."

"No way dad I don't even plan on having kids until I am 33ish, that's in 10 years," Troy replied annoyance taking over him.

"Oh please Troy you promised when you was younger that you would marry whoever your mother and I wanted to and whenever we wanted you to get married."

"Hey that's not fair I was young I was tricked by you and mum," said Troy as he slumped onto the couch staring at the ceiling.

"Come on Troy be a man suck it up and marry someone already I know the perfect woman for you!" Jack exclaimed, clearly lying.

"Alright, fine! On one condition," Troy said finally giving in.

"Sure whatever you want," Jack replied pleased with his persuading skills.

"She has to sign a contract saying that we will get divorced after year is up and I am not satisfied. If I do fall in love with her well then there will be no need for a divorce." Jack stared at his son not knowing what to say. How could his son actually say that? Jack mulled things over in his head for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion.

"Okay, she has to sign the contract," Jack replied in an upset tone.

"Alright," Troy said whilst getting up to leave, "oh and no grandchildren." Once Troy had left the room Jack went to sit on the couch now he had to find the right woman for his son who would accept his son's contract and will make his son fall head over heels in love with her so that he wouldn't want to get a divorce. Where was he going to find a girl like that? There is probably only one in a billion who would accept this. Well actually his son is famous so almost everyone would say yes. However his son would just divorce a girl like that, it wasn't his type. Jack knew his son well he liked the genuine girls the sweet and caring ones. Yes there would only be one in a billion girls who would accept this proposal. He had 3 days to find her.

* * *

Jack looked at the photograph; he sure hoped he made the right choice.

"Man I hope I made the right the decision. She's the best that I could find and she is as close to the perfect wife that I can think of. I just hope you don't mess it up with your stupid contract."

* * *

So what did you think? Did you like it? I hope you did. I originally came up with this story about eight months ago and was planning on writing it as a Charmed fanfic but then I sort of lost the mood to right Charmed fics and have been exploring other fan fictions. I then really got into High School Musical and I decided to use this plot as the basis of my story. As the writer of this fanfic I am not sure as to whether I liked this start so please review and tell me what you think! I want reviews or I might not carry on with the story! This is my first attempt at a HSM fanfic and my first attempt at a fanfic for quite a while now. There might be a few mistakes I didn't have time to proofread I have been writing this from 11:30pm to 1:00 am (England time). 


	2. Still On My Brain

**Still On My Brain**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of High School Musical no matter how much I wish I do!

I wanted people to know the ages of my characters so that you don't get confused since they're not all the same age. I'll tell you the ages of the characters you have come across and will come across in this chapter. I will tell you the ages of characters that you will meet in the future in the chapter that you meet them in. I hope you understood that.

Gabriella Montez – 22 years old  
Troy Bolton – 23 years old  
Dean Montez – 25 years old  
Sam Montez – 20 years old  
Anna Montez (Gabriella's mum) – 47 years old  
James Montez (Gabriella's dad) – 49 years old  
Jack Bolton (Troy's dad) – 49 years old  
Kelsi Neilson – 24 years old  
Chad Danforth – 23 years old  
Taylor Danforth – 22 years old (married to Chad for a year)  
Sharpay Baylor – 24 years old (married to Zeke for two years)

Also I just want to say thank you for the reviews. I got 18 reviews! I decided to update earlier because I am going to Ironbridge with my school during the week-end. So there won't be an update then. I hope you like it!

* * *

Gabriella walked through the door of her apartment. She entered her bedroom and sank onto the bed. She had no idea what she was going to do. Should she move to Los Angeles? Should she marry Mr Bolton's son? Now that she thought about she didn't even know his name. She was going to be referring to him as Mr Bolton's son or my boss' son. A thought just struck in Gabriella's mind. She didn't know how he looked. For all she knew he could be really geeky guy who breaths really loudly and down her neck or he could be some really fat dumb idiot. 

After thinking for what felt like years Gabriella decided to just leave it in the hands of her family. Just after Gabriella came to this conclusion she drifted off to peaceful sleep. She would have to call the members of her family once she woke up.

Gabriella didn't wake up until the next and once again she was running late for work so se no time to call her family and ask for their opinion on the matter. Gabriella went straight to her desk and got started on work. After an hour or so took a break and as she was walking to the lunch queue at POISE magazine, she noticed her best friend Kelsi Neilson was also in the queue. Gabriella cut the queue so that she could get next to Kelsi.

"I have major news to tell you," Gabriella hissed into Kelsi's ear whilst dragging her out of the queue to a secluded table in the corner of the room.

"What is so major that you had to pull me out the line when I was so close to the front," Kelsi asked in an annoyed.

"Sorry," Gabriella said sheepishly, "but this really is major well actually there are two major thing."

"Well are you gonna tell me anytime soon r am I gonna have to guess?" Kelsi enquired a little harshly.

"Okay! Okay come down," Gabriella said laughing at how easily her friend got pissed of with her, "umm… well the first thing is that the Mr Bolton gave me a promotion!"

"Wow Oh My God! I been and this job for 2 years and I've been waiting been waiting for a promotion for a couple of months now you must be good. Is that why he asked you to go to his office yesterday?" Kelsi asked realisation hitting her in the head. "But wait why were you in there for so long if that was all he wanted to say?"

"That's the umm… second thing," Gabriella said barely above a whisper, "he wants me to marry his son," she said even quieter.

"What? I can't here you Gabs," Kelsi replied.

"He wants me to marry his son," Gabriella answered louder. Kelsi stood still staring at Gabriella as if she was a ghost. "Stop staring at me like that, it's scary!" Kelsi didn't listen to her and carried on staring at Gabriella until she found her voice again.

"He asked you to marry his son," Kelsi repeated back.

"Yes, God I should just say no, for all I know he could be really ugly or really mean or abusive. Urgh! But if I say no will Mr Bolton take away the promotion and what if he fires me? What do I do Kels? What do I do?" Gabriella rambled on.

"Okay first things first are you sure you want to go to L.A.?" Kelsi questioned.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure, I always dreamed of moving there when I was younger," Gabriella finally admitted out loud.

"Well then I'm gonna miss you so much when you leave. Now second of all I know for sure that Troy is far from ugly he is like an angel that descended from heaven, I met him before in a conference call."

"Who's Troy?" Gabriella asked dimwittedly. Kelsi rolled her eyes.

"Troy Bolton is Mr Bolton's son," Kelsi answered.

"Oh! You've met him then?" Gabriella enquired.

"Yeah and I'm pretty sure he doesn't abuse others. My personal opinion is that you should marry him because he seems like a really kind, sweet and caring guy who will look out for you." This brought a smile to Gabriella face. After a couple more minutes of chitchat they both rejoined the lunch queue.

* * *

As soon as Gabriella had finished her work she grabbed her coat and bag and left the building. As soon as she unlocked her apartment door she picked up the wireless phone and went to her bedroom so that she could fall onto her bed. She first dialled her older brother Dean's home number but no-one picked up so she called his mobile after ringing three times he finally picked up. 

"Hey Gabster," Dean said as he answered his mobile, he knew it was her due to caller I.D.

"Hey bro, when are you ever going to stop calling me Gabster? I'm 22 for god's sake not 5 anymore."

"Sorry sis but that name is sticking around for many years to come. So why'd you decide to call after god knows how long?" Dean asked.

"I need to speak to you it's really important. Can you make it back here to New York this weekend?"

"Why what's the problem? Gabriella you know you can tell me anything right?" Dean said with a worried tone.

"Yeah of course I know but I want to tell you face to face with the rest of the family. So do you think you can make it?" Gabriella informed.

"Of course anything for my little sister," Dean said still not convinced with Gabriella's reply.

"Well then I guess I'll see you on Saturday at mum and dad's place."

"Alright see you there sis. Bye!" Dean replied. Gabriella sat there okay one down two more to go. She next dialled her parent's number and after one ring her mum picked up.

"Hello this is Anna Montez speaking who is calling?"

"Hey Mum it's Gabi, I need to speak to you, dad, Dean and Sam about some things this week-end and I was wondering if you were free this Saturday," Gabriella said.

"Yes of course I'm free but are you sure your okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine I just need to discuss a few issues with the family. The family will be coming round your place. Well I better get going cya mum." With that Gabriella hung up the phone. She dialled Sam's mobile number and he picked up straight away.

"Hey there sis! How are you?" Sam asked.

"I'm fine thanks Sam you?" Gabriella replied joyfully.

"Life is great here at Massachusetts it is so different to New York."

"Well I was wondering if maybe you could make it back this week-end to New York because I need to talk to you and the rest of the family."

"You're pregnant aren't you? Oh God and you said that you were gonna stay a virgin until you got married now look at how that turned out. How are you gonna break it Dean or even mum and dad?" Sam enquired. Gabriella just chuckled.

"I'm not pregnant Sam; I stay true to my words. It's something else and I want to know your opinion on it. I want to speak face to face," Gabriella answered.

"Okay well I guess I could finish all my homework on Friday night and make it there Saturday morning since I'm not very far away. It should only take up to an hour to get there."

"Okay well I'll see you when you get her bye," Gabriella said. After all the phone calls Gabriella got up and made her self some dinner.

* * *

**MEANWHILE IN LOS ANGELES**

"Okay, guys that was a great practice, in this rate we'll be able to easily win the championships!" Coach Jackson exclaimed. "I gonna call it and end now cause after watching you guys, I am absolutely shattered."

"Oi Troy!"

"What do you want now Chad?" Troy asked in a bored voice.

"Do you want to swing by my house? Sharpay's there with Taylor," Chad replied.

"Sure anything to get my mind on other things." Chad stood in front of Troy to stop him from walking.

"What's up you've been moody and more snappy than usual these last few days so what is it?" Chad enquired.

"Dad's forcing me into an arranged marriage," Troy sulked.

"This is great you've been looking for a challenge, you always said that picking girls up was way to easy lately this way you can see if you can still pick up girls but without this girl you're marrying finding out."

"Dude, what there hell happens in your head, as big a player I might be I am not gonna cheat on my soon to be wife, it wouldn't be fair on her. She doesn't know what she's going to be getting into," Troy replied sincerely.

"Okay well then make your challenge to see if you can make her fall in love with you?" Chad said.

"Too easy," Troy answered.

"See how long it takes to bang her then?"

"Dude how can Taylor love you? You're really insensitive and degrading to women. I am not going to see how long it takes to 'bang' her, you idiot."

"Don't ask me why Taylor loves me since I haven't come up with an answer to that and it has nearly been 5 years since we first got together and for your information I am trying to lighten up the situation because as soon as you marry her you're gonna have the worst year of your life," Chad said just before he walked off leaving Troy to think about what Chad had just said.

So many questions were going round in his head, how the hell did he get himself into this situation? How will she react when she finds out about the contract? Will she be willing to give it a go? Was he willing to give it a go? What was the girl's name? Was she ugly? Did she only want to be with him because he was famous? Did she want to be with him because he was rich? It just hit Troy that he knew absolutely nothing about the girl he was supposedly going to marry and Troy didn't like this one bit but he was going to do it because he knew that he had promised his parents he would marry whoever they wanted him to marry and whenever. Why did he have to be a stupid child and agree to this?

* * *

Okay well that was the second chapter I hope you guys liked it. I quite liked it. I know that not much happened but it was sort of a filler because I really don't want to rush this story like I have done in the past but I also don't want to drag this story out forever. I also want to say another huge thank you for all the reviews, I've never received this many for just one chapter, it makes me feel so happy! Please keep the reviews coming. Sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical mistakes!This chapter is named after the song Still On My Brain by Justin Timberlake. 


	3. The Answer

**The Answer**

(A/N The rating will most likely change to M as the story goes on! So beware.)

NB: Nothing annoys me more than people who add my story to their favourites or alerts when they don't review! So please please please please review! Every review I receive will be worth it! I am amazed though because I received another 18 reviews! However I know I could get tons more if all of those who read my fic would review.

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of the characters… if I did there would have been a lot more PDA in the movies from Troy and Gabriella!!

* * *

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday whizzed past much too fast for Gabriella's liking. She didn't know how she was going to explain everything to her family and she still needed to make a decision that hopefully her family could help her make a decision.

Gabriella woke up on Saturday morning to the song 'I'm Like A Bird' by Nelly Furtado. She shut it up as soon as possible she was not in a good mood. Gabriella was hardly ever in a bad mood and if she was there was always a valid reason behind why she was angry. Gabriella got out of bad and had a quick shower before putting on a simple t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. She grabbed her cardigan and her handbag and left her apartment and got into her old car. She made a mental note to find a way to buy a new car; she then started her journey to her parent's house which should have taken only half an hour if it wasn't for the damn traffic. She ended up arriving at her parent's house an hour and half later.

As she opened the front door with her key and walked into the living room she noticed that all of the family had already arrived and were watching a basketball game on the television. Gabriella was probably the only person in the family who hadn't seen a basketball game in her life she just could not be bothered as she felt she had better things to do with her life, she also disliked it because she had flunked the basketball unit in high school as she when she tried to shoot a basket she flung the ball behind her and the ball hit the teacher on the nose and broke it. Even her mother loved basketball for God's sake. No one in the room noticed Gabriella enter until she coughed really loudly.

They all turned their heads to see Gabriella standing against the wall and simultaneously they all got up and ran to hug her.

"Guys I can't breathe!" Gabriella screamed underneath all of them.

"Sorry!" they all screamed together. They all bounded back to the sofa and carried on watching the game. Gabriella sighed and walked in front of the television and pressed the switch off button whilst the others started yelling at her asking her why she turned it off.

"If you guys have forgotten, I'll refresh your memory. I called you here for a reason and not for basketball. I have something to tell you," Gabriella said looking down.

"Well get on with it then," Sam said impatiently.

"I'm moving to Los Angeles," Gabriella exclaimed. Gabriella kept her head low as no one said anything.

"Why?" Gabriella's father James asked.

"My boss gave me a promotion."

"Well then that's great news." James cried out as the rest of the family nodded their heads in agreement. Gabriella's face broke out into a smile that her family were prepared to let her go. However the smile on her face instantly wiped away as she remembered the other issue she needed to talk to her family about. Gabriella took a deep breath before telling them what her boss had asked her at the beginning of the week.

"Mr Bolton also wants me to marry his son," Gabriella whispered however it was loud enough for all of them to hear.

"What?" Gabriella's mother burst out before she could stop herself.

"Mr Bolton wants me to marry his son," Gabriella repeated her voice shaking from worrying about her brothers' reactions.

"He just asked you out of the blue?" Dean asked slowly and cautiously.

"Yeah," Gabriella replied meekly.

"Wait wait back up there. Did you just say your boss Mr Bolton asked you to marry his son, who is called?" Sam said stressing the name Mr Bolton.

"Uh yeah," Gabriella replied confused. "he asked me to marry his son who is called umm… errr… tom, tray, TROY. That was his name. Why do you ask?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"He asked you to marry his son named Troy Bolton," Sam said slowly as Dean's eyes started to bulge.

"Yes what is the big fascination with his name? Shouldn't you be worried that your sister could be marrying this really ugly guy who is really mean to me? For goodness sake I am asking if you think that going into an arranged married would be good for me and all you're worried about is the name of the guy who could potentially be my husband," Gabriella asked annoyed at her brother's infatuation with he guy she might marry.

"Well I think, I have a right to be surprised that you're thinking about marrying Troy Bolton," Sam said getting annoyed that his sister was annoyed.

"Why does it matter what he is called?" Gabriella asked. That was when the penny dropped (it means when the realisation hit him if you don't know, my maths teacher says it to us all the time) in Sam's mind.

"You don't know who Troy Bolton is do you?"

"Of course I don't know who he is which is why it is called an _arranged_ marriage. It is also why I am complaining how he could be really ugly!" Gabriella shouted beyond pissed at how stupid her brother was.

"No need to shout! Wait you just said you didn't know who he was?" Sam said connecting eyes with Dean.

"Yes! God how many times do I have to say it!" Gabriella shouted. Sam went to the television and turned it on.

"That is Troy Bolton," Sam said pointing to the man who just scored a basket for the LA Lakers. Gabriella stood mesmerised at the Greek God standing in front of her eyes. Well not really standing but playing basketball with great ease and such grace in the television.

"No," Gabriella whispered. Her boss wanted her to marry his son who is a basketball player and is famous? She could not handle of this so Gabriella was about to stalk off when her Dad said something.

"You'll marry him," James said in a monotone.

"What?" Gabriella said.

"No," Anna said.

"What?" Gabriella questioned her Mum.

"You will not marry him," Gabriella's mother answered.

"Yes she will, he seems like the perfect man. The man I can trust to look after Gabriella. All I want is for her to be loved and cared for by a fine man. I have a good feeling about this man," James answered.

"You've go to be kidding me. I am not going to let some stranger marry my only daughter. Anyway he is famous… how will Gabriella cope with the paparazzi and all the other crap that comes with being married to a celebrity huh?" Anna said in an overprotective voice.

"I agree with mum there is absolutely no way I am letting our Gabs marry Troy Bolton. He is the biggest player known to walk this Earth for goodness sake. He will sure as hell not care for Gabi or even love her." Dean interrupted.

"Thanks," Gabriella replied sarcastically.

"No offence," Dean quickly added.

"I'm sure your exaggerating son. He is probably just as honourable as you and your brother. He probably just couldn't find his perfect match." James answered.

"Yeah out of a million women he couldn't find his perfect match," Dean exaggerated in a sarcastic voice, "anyway what makes you so sure he will fall for Gabriella after all the girls he has had how comes Gabriella won't just be another one of those other girls?" Dean asked using his sister's full name.

"Gabriella has so much more talent and she will make the perfect wife, I can just feel it."

"Stop making up crap dad!" Dean said angrily. As Gabriella watched the argument escalate. Why had she even bothered telling them? They were absolutely no help and she was planning on them helping her reach a decision. Where had she left her brain? She should have known that they would be no help at all.

"Can I have a say now?" Sam enquired, "I actually think that Gabriella should marry him. I mean think about it we'll be related to the Troy Bolton. He could help us with our basketball skills. Gabriella can be famous!"

"Sam! When did you go back to being an eight year old? I don't want to marry some guy so that I can become famous; I am not a gold digger! And I sure as help will not marry him so that you and Dean can learn some crappy basketball tricks," Gabriella shouted.

"Hey they won't be crappy if he teaches us how…" Sam trailed off after receiving a death glare from Gabriella.

"Gabriella please don't marry him, I have read magazines darling and they really don't take to celebrities dating non-celebrities let alone marrying them. They'll make you out to be some horrible money searching bitch, excuse my language, but Gabriella I really don't want you to get into a whirlwind where people are trying to find out about your personal life," Anna said. Gabriella thought about what her mum had just told her. Would she be willing to give up a lot of her privacy for this guy? Before anybody could reply to what Anna had just said, Gabriella spoke up.

"But what if he is the one? I know I would be more than willing to marry Troy and have the paparazzi following me, if I fell in love with him and he loved me back. I could be giving up something huge or getting myself into something huge and pointless. I am still quite young but I had my plan that I made when I left for college. I was to get married between the age of 21 to 24. I was to have a child when I was 25 or 26 and so on. I wanted all of this really early compared to others who want to get married at 29 (Troy wink wink). If he's willing then maybe I am too." Gabriella said finally letting out why she was even considering marrying Troy.

Before anyone could start arguing why Gabriella should or shouldn't marry Troy she grabbed her things and left the house. Gabriella arrived back at her apartment at 3:45. She had lots of time to kill. For around an hour or so Gabriella came up with a list of as many reasons she could think of as to why she shouldn't marry Troy Bolton. She looked at the list and it was long! Gabriella started on the reasons why she should marry Troy but stopped after a few minutes. She realised that there was only one reason that was really valid in the whole situation. She wanted to marry Troy Bolton in hopes of finding what she had only heard about and could not even imagine how it felt. Gabriella Montez wanted to marry Troy Bolton in the hopes of finding in him a person who could make her feels things that someone can only feel when they are in love.

* * *

I personally hated this chapter as I thought it was written worse than my other chapters in this story. I guess I just found it hard to explain each person's view in Gabriella's family. Anyway there was no Troy in this chapter sorry! The first load of chapters are mainly focusing on Gabriella as most of what is happening so far is depending upon her decisions. I am not sure if they are going to meet in the next chapter I haven't set it out yet but they will definitely be meeting in the chapter after the next. I wonder if any of you actually read all the rambling I write about this story. My trip to Ironbridge was really boring anyway we just saw a ton of museums and an Ironbridge. The nights were great fun although my friends and I got caught one of the nights trying to sneak into another person's room, it was hilarious!

Anyway keep reviewing! Constructive criticism is value! Oh and the chapter is named after the song The Answer by Britney Spears from her In The Zone album.


	4. Say It Right

**Say It Right**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I received 22! Do press the button at the bottom of the screen on the left corner. You know you want to. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Ages:  
Lucille Bolton (Troy's mum) – 46 years old  
Camilla Kelly Bolton (Troy's younger sister) – 10 years old

Disclaimer: I do not any of the High School Musical characters however I am hoping that Disney will let me have them for Christmas!

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Monday came rolling around and yet again, Gabriella fell off the bed in the morning and received another bruise but this time it was on her wrist. At least this time she had time to actually eat breakfast. She let out a sigh and walked out of her apartment and headed for a deadened car. 

Before she knew she was in the familiar lift and then walking the familiar corridor to hr desk, the organized one. Well today was the day. Today she was to tell Mr Bolton that she would indeed marry his son. God that still felt weird to her, her boss was called Mr Bolton and her soon-to-be husband was Mr Bolton. She whacked herself on the head of course they were both Boltons they were father and son! But she couldn't deny it she was excited and there was this bubbling feeling at the pit of her stomach that felt as though it was going to explode. She had never felt this type of excitement before.

Gabriella looked at the clock it was 9:30 am and her boss didn't come until noon. He only came on specific days and at specific times since he lived Albuquerque and therefore did most of his work at home. She had a lot of time to kill since she had finished all her work during the weekend. Gabriella mentally berated herself for coming to work when her boss wasn't even going to be there for two and a half hours, but she couldn't stay at home any longer since it was driving her crazy.

But she didn't have to wait long. Kelsi had arrived and had grabbed Gabriella's hand and dragged her into the lounge at the magazine company.

"Talk," was all Kelsi said as Gabriella began to pour everything out.

"I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna marry him," Gabriella blurted out.

"Alright! Go you! I am really glad for you Gabs. You know I was worried that you might actually turn down such an amazing proposal. Now I have to wait until I find my knight in shining armour." Kelsi said dreamily. Gabriella burst out laughing.

"Troy's hardly my knight in shining armour, it's hardly romantic. I mean we haven't even met yet," replied Gabriella with a sigh.

"Well not now but when you guys fall in love, it will be like a fairy tale. You'll have this amazingly rich wedding and loads of children running round the huge mansion you live in!" Kelsi exclaimed.

"How can you be so sure that we will fall in love? What if we absolutely can't stand each other and are at each other's throat all the time. What if we don't click? Anyway I am not marrying him for his money, Kelsi I would have expected much more from you. However the money is definitely a plus. Oh and no children, well at least for a while," Gabriella said with a huge grin on her face at the last few comments.

"Oh come on Gabriella stop worrying, I'm sure everything will turn out fine. Anyway maybe you could have a hate love relationship. I've heard they're romantic too!" Kelsi said excitement flowing through her. Gabriella simply sighed at how stupid Kelsi was when she went all dreamy and soppy thinking about marriage. Gabriella was more the independent type since she had accomplished almost everything in her life by herself or with the small amount of help from her brothers. However Gabriella did have a huge soft spot when it came to sharing her life with someone, she tried not to show people but knew she was probably failed like mad at trying to hide her real feelings on love.

Gabriella and Kelsi carried on having a trivial conversation until Kelsi had to leave to do her work. Gabriella went trudging back to her desk. She went on the internet and was about to play a game when a new idea came to her head. She typed into Google, 'Troy Bolton forum'. She didn't know why she did it, she just did. She wanted to know something but she didn't know what that something was.

It came up with 378,000 results. She clicked on the first website where she saw loads of comments on the website all saying how much they loved him some were very sweet and made Gabriella smile and some really freaked her out when the people were describing what they wanted him to do to them and were very provocative. Gabriella felt like puking at some of them. Gabriella then clicked on a different website. She was searching the site when she realised it was dedicated to all the girls he had dated. Gabriella scrolled down and counted all the women she saw that had dated them. When she reached the end she had counted over 50 girls. There were models, actresses, singers and fashion designers. It also said how long he had dated each one and his longest relationship was two months. This definitely was not good news for Gabriella. She had had enough and logged off. It was not a good idea to look at the websites. 

Gabriella glanced at the clock on her desk and realised it was already 12:20 pm. It was now and never. Gabriella rose from her seat and walked to the office at the end of the corridor. She braced herself and knocked slowly on the door. When she heard someone mumble come in she did just that. She looked up to see her boss staring at her. She gave a lopsided smile.

"What a surprise Miss Montez, what brings you here?" Jack asked silently hoping that Gabriella had reached a decision and that the decision was that she would indeed marry his son.

"Umm…well I've made my decision," Gabriella said shyly.

"Yes…" Jack elongated.

"I would be honoured to marry Troy," Gabriella whispered loud enough for Jack to here. He jumped out of his seat and hugged her one quick motion. Gabriella felt a little uncomfortable about being hugged by her boss and Jack seemed to notice.

"Oh sorry…but I guess it doesn't matter now that you are going to be my daughter in law," Jack said excitedly. "Oh and I guess you should call me Jack from now rather than all the formal rubbish. I should probably give you Troy's mobile number." Jack scribbled Troy's number on a scrap piece of paper and gave it to Gabriella.

"Yeah and I guess you can just call me Gabriella."

"Great, I was hoping you could move to LA by next week. You will be living with Troy and get married soon after."

"Yeah sure no problem," Gabriella answered.

"Are you sure you have no problems with this arrangement? Are your family okay with you getting married to Troy."

"Yeah I have no problems and my family is practically over the moon," Gabriella said lying through her teeth. She felt bad she had already lied to her soon-to-be father in-law. Gabriella hardly ever lied unless she had to. She lied since she really didn't want to cause any unnecessary problems for Troy's father. She knew her family would come round to the idea of her getting married sooner or later. That reminded her, she still hadn't told her family about her decision.

"Oh and I never told you before since I forgot to mention it but when you go to Los Angeles at you will become editor of the magazine and you will have tenure which is when you can not be fired without cause and have a significant pay rise," Jack informed. Gabriella looked shock but finally found the words to thank him before bidding him goodbye.

As soon as Gabriella got home she picked up the telephone and started dialling her brother Dean's phone.

"Yup," Dean said as he answered his phone.

"Emergency meeting at my apartment, in an hour. Be there!" Gabriella said before hanging up and calling the other members of her family and telling them something along the lines of what she had told Dean. She hoped there wasn't going to be another debate well that's what it kind of felt like the last time she spoke to them.

Around an hour and a half later everyone was gathered on Gabriella's couch. They were all staring at Gabriella as she got up from her seat and stood in front of the others.

"I've come to a decision." Gabriella stated. "I'm gonna do it. I am gonna marry him," she said for the third time that day.

"I guess I expected that you would once you had left," Anna said. Everyone in Gabriella's family got up to hug her. They all respected her decision even if they didn't think that she was right about what she was going to do.

"I'll be leaving next week for L.A," Gabriella informed the rest of her family.

"If he even tries to do anything I will seriously kill him," Dean said as Gabriella smiled at how overprotective he was.

Once everyone had left Gabriella went to her room and started on her packing. She had a hell of a lot to do this week. She still couldn't believe that her life would be changing ever so quickly within the next few weeks.

**IN THE OFFICE AT POISE MAGAZINE**

Jack's mobile phone went off. He looked at the caller I.D only to see it was Troy.

"Hello, how comes you are calling?"

"I dunno, I guess I'm just bored and I haven't spoken to you much lately," Troy answered.

"Well, I'm glad to know I am at the top of your priority list," Jack said sarcastically. "Oh actually that reminds me. Gabriella will be moving in with you next week."

"Whoa. Back up, who is Gabriella?" Troy questioned

"Oh right you don't know do you. Gabriella Montez is your future wife," Jack said proudly. Troy simply scowled even though he was mentally complimenting her name.

"I see, so she's coming next week?" Troy said uninterestedly.

"Yup. Oh and Troy don't tell her about the contract I don't want to scare her off. She's the perfect daughter in-law."

"No dad, she has a right to know anyway I need her to actually sign the contract. How the hell is she going to sign the contract if she doesn't know what it is?"

"I dunno Troy but you have to think of something, I don't want you to scare her off with your stupid contract." Troy let out a sigh. He could not be asked to argue with his dad.

"Okay well I am gonna hit the sack. Say hi to mum and Cam!" Troy said before hanging up. Jack got up from his desk and made his way out of the office.

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I just want to give a shout out to the two people whose ideas and things they said I used. The first is the user **mysupermanwillcome** who claimed that the last chapter was kind of like a debate and I have to agree with you. The second is the user **dreamscape** who sort of gave me the idea of tenure. Thank you to all of you who review I was really pleased with the amount of reviews I received. I hope you all liked this chapter. I found that it was okay, it was yet again sort of like a filler however there was crucial information at the end. I promise you they meet in the next chapter and you meet another character. Please keep reviewing! I have 60 people with my story on their story alert list! My story is also on the favourites list of 33 people! Go me! Lol. Sorry for any mistakes. The chapter is named after the song Say It Right by Nelly Furtado from album Loose. 


	5. What You Waiting For?

**What You Waiting For?**

Disclaimer: Nope they still won't give me the characters of High School Musical!

Ages:  
Jennifer Marissa Danforth – two months old (Taylor and Chad's daughter)  
Alesha Katherine Baylor – six months old (Zeke and Sharpay's daughter)

Here is the long awaited chapter where Troy and Gabriella finally meet! Although I don't think it is quite how most of you pictured it! You'll also meet Taylor.

(A/N thank you so much for the number of reviews in chapter 4. I received the most that I have ever received for just one chapter! Drums everyone… I got 24 reviews!

If anyone wants to know the stats for this story are(before this chapter):

Chapters: 4 (well now technically 5 but whatever)  
Words: 8436  
Hits: 3950  
Favourites: 47  
Story Alerts: 73  
C2s: 1 (Amazingly Troyella)  
Reviews: 85

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**1 WEEK LATER**

Gabriella grabbed the last of her luggage and was saying her goodbyes to her family. Once she had shed her tears she got into the taxi and was making her way to JFK airport (Friends has taught he so much about America… lol!). She would be in Los Angeles in a couple of hours. Sooner than expected Gabriella had reached the airport and was going through customs.

Whilst waiting in the airport she took out her i-pod and started listening to her music to stop her from thinking about her fiancé if that's what she was to call him even though technically he hadn't proposed to her and she had no ring.

Gabriella boarded the plane and was directed to her seat. She was walking to her seat when a random guy grabbed her hand and started chatting her up. Gabriella simply released her hand from his and walked off without a word. She found her seat and sat down.

"Wow you handled that really well," said the girl sitting next to her. Gabriella turned her head and smiled.

"Thanks, I'm Gabriella Montez," Gabriella answered holding out her hand.

"I'm Taylor Danforth," Taylor replied taking Gabriella's hand and shaking it.

"So do you live in LA?" Gabriella asked trying to make a conversation.

"Yeah I live with my husband and by new born daughter Jennifer. I have a picture of her," Taylor exclaimed excitedly whilst going through her purse and taking out the picture of her two month old daughter.

"Oh she is so cute! Wow I wish I could meet her!" Gabriella said loudly.

"Yeah that would be great… wait do you live in L.A?" Taylor questioned.

"Well I'm moving so yes."

"That's great, then if I give you my address you could come and we could hang out," Taylor suggested.

"That would be excellent. Wow my future is already looking brighter; I've already made a friend!" Gabriella said a smile surfacing on her face. Taylor simply laughed at Gabriella's comment whilst writing her address on a piece of paper and handing it to Gabriella.

"Wait why would your future be looking dull anyway? I mean your moving to Los Angeles, one of the richest places ever and so that must make you rich." stated Taylor simply.

"Ha! I am definitely far from rich but not my future husband, he is loaded. This practically leads on to why my future looks so bleak. It's an arranged marriage you see so it really feels like you're at a T junction and one way could lead you to bliss and happiness beyond anything I have ever felt before and the other way will lead me to a miserable life where I could end up as a divorcee. The trick is I don't know which way leads to what. Plus arranged marriages are so centuries ago that it feels weird since I never thought that I would ever get married this way. When I was younger I always thought that I was going to be swept away by a prince and we'll ride of into the sunset, you know?" Taylor laughed at Gabriella's imaginative descriptions.

"Well if it makes you feel any better one of my best friends is having an arranged marriage so it's not so bad. Which part of Los Angeles will you be living at?" Taylor questioned trying to comfort Gabriella. After thinking for a few seconds Gabriella came up with an answer.

"I have absolutely no idea. I'll have to call him to find out the address."

"Him?" Taylor asked confused.

"Oh, my future husband," Gabriella said sarcastically putting on a dreamy face before both girls burst out into laughter.

"So how did you meet your hubby?" Gabriella asked as the laughter subsided.

"High School, he was a jock, well to be more specific, a lunkhead basketball boy and I was a nerd who was captain of the Scholastic Decathlon," Taylor said proudly.

"Really? I was captain of the Scholastic Decathlon team at my high school," Gabriella said just as proudly.

"Wait your Gabriella Montez?" Taylor said her eyes widening. Gabriella simply nodded confusion showing in her eyes. "You're the girl he led her school to be the winners of the scholastic decathlon championships three times in a row?"

"Yeah, how do you know that?" Gabriella asked a little creeped out and a little confused.

"You were my mortal enemy when I was on the team, there was no way of beating you," Taylor said laughing at how naïve she used to be. Gabriella joined in on the laughter when it dawned on her how funny it was.

"I haven't laughed this much in a while," Gabriella commented in between laughing fits whilst other passengers on the plane stared at the two as if they had grown a second head.

"What's your job then? You must be some sort of scientist with brains like yours," Taylor said.

"No I'm actually in the fashion industry. I work at the magazine named POISE. My family didn't have enough money to get me into college for science so I went into a different job lane," Gabriella stated a little sadness showing that didn't go unnoticed by Taylor.

"Well my friend's father actually owns the company," Taylor said pretending she didn't notice the way the mood had changed. It didn't click in Gabriella's head that Jack Bolton was who Taylor was talking about. Time flew past and before they knew it the captain had asked them to fasten their seatbelts as they were preparing to land in Los Angeles.

As they departed the plane they both said goodbye as Taylor headed of to find her husband and child. Gabriella hung back and fished through her handbag for the piece of paper her boss had given her with Troy's mobile (cell for the American's lol) number. Once she finally found it she dialled the number and waited for someone to pick up. After a few rings someone spoke.

"Hello Troy Bolton speaking, may I ask who this is?" A cool, relaxed polite voice came in.

"Hi," Gabriella replied weakly. Troy on the other side smiled at the beautiful soft voice he had just heard. "I'm Gabriella Montez, I was wondering if you could give me your address since I'm here in L.A. but was stupid enough not to remember to get your address." Troy wondered who this girl was and why she expected him to just give his address to her, for all he knew it was probably a crazy stalker. Realization suddenly dawned on Troy when he remembered exactly who Gabriella was.

"Oh right it's 8942 Wilshire Road. Beverly Hills, CA 90211," Troy said in a much colder voice than when he answered his phone.

"Thanks, I guess I'll see you later then. Bye," Gabriella said shyly said down the phone before hanging up. Gabriella went outside the airport and pulled up a taxi. She gave the taxi driver the address.

**AT TROY'S MANSION**

Troy put down his mobile and stared at it before turning it off. He got up and grabbed his keys and left the mansion. He couldn't go to Chad's since he was picking up Taylor from her trip and Zeke was out for the day with Sharpay and Alesha. He decided he would just sit at a café for a couple of hours. Troy walked to the gate and told the guard to let a woman named Gabriella Montez through the gates but to not let her inside or tell her where he was heading. Troy walked to his Mercedes Benz and climbed in.

**BACK TO GABRIELLA**

Before long Gabriella was outside the gate of her new house. The guard had let her in through the gates. Gabriella dragged her suitcase along behind her until she reached the door. She rang the bell and waited for someone to open the door but nobody did. She rang it again but still no-one came so she knocked on the door in case the bell just didn't work but still had no luck. Gabriella walked back to the guard and asked him where Troy had gone.

"Sorry Miss Montez but I'm not allowed to give you that information." Gabriella frowned but instead of knocking on the door again she took out her mobile and dialled Troy's number, only to find that his mobile was switched off. This was great it was just Gabriella's luck to start her first day in L.A. locked out of her house.

Now that Gabriella thought about it. It looked nothing like a house… it was a mansion… a big beautiful mansion. Well since she had time to kill Gabriella laid her suitcase down and sat on top of it. She turned her i-pod on and began listening to it.

**3 HOURS LATER**

Troy parked his car; he had no idea why he had done what he had. Was he crazy? Troy just wanted Gabriella to feel something but he didn't know what that something was. Did he just want her to feel upset or angry or annoyed? He didn't even know the woman yet he had locked her outside the house in the cold when he knew full and well that she had no key and had expected him to be there. Troy rounded the corner when he noticed someone sitting by the doorstep it was probably her.

As Troy got closer he noticed that Gabriella was asleep. He also noticed very quickly that she was extremely beautiful. He stood in front of her debating whether or not to wake her up. He decided against it and stooped down to whether she had her head leaning against the wall. He noticed that she was listening to her i-pod that was at a song named What You Waiting For? How ironic he thought. He picked her up bridal style making sure not to wake her up. He wrapped her arms around his neck to make sure he didn't drop her. He asked the guard to take her suitcases into the mansion and put it into the guest bedroom.

Troy walked over the threshold with Gabriella in his hands bridal style and thought how that was also ironic. He walked up the stairs and decided to let her sleep in his room since it was the closest bedroom. Troy lay Gabriella down on his bed and was about to move away when he realised that Gabriella's hands were still around his neck. He tried to get them off of him but they wouldn't budge.

Troy suddenly got a whiff of Gabriella's scent and it was definitely a good scent. She smelt like Lavender mixed with Gabriella's personal scent. Troy was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't see Gabriella roll over which therefore ended with him on the bed next to her. Gabriella unconsciously wrapped her leg around Troy so that he was unable to move off the bed. He decided to just stay in this position and deal with everything the next morning as sleep overtook him.

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I didn't think that this chapter was that bad. Well there you go they finally meet except I don't think that you pictured that Gabriella would be asleep! How will they get on? You guys better be happy that I updated since I just finished writing it and it is 2:45 in the morning! By the way the address is not Zac Efron's it is just some random person's living in Beverly Hills. Anyway this chapter is named What You Waiting For? after the song by Gwen Stefani. I just want to say MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone.

I've decided to have one of those author recommendations at the end since I think that they are helpful.

My first recommendation is:  
Emotions Unaccounted For by Cuppycakes

Please keep reviewing! It makes a nice Christmas prezzie. Technically I started writing this chapter on Christmas Day.


	6. Stranger

**Stranger**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the High School Musical characters

(A/N There is some swearing in this so beware)

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all the reviews! I obtained 31 reviews! I had no idea I would ever get over a 100 reviews for just five chapters when I started this story. Man you guys are reviewing more and more each chapter. Maybe we can keep it going that way. Hint Hint. I updated way earlier because I was over the moon with the number of reviews I got.

The stats so far are:  
Chapters: 5 (now technically six but these are the stats before this chapter)  
Words: 10,573  
Hits: 5303  
Hits for chapter 5: 456  
Favourites: 58  
Story Alerts: 88 (this went up by loads!)  
C2s : 1 – Amazingly Troyella (Still just the one but it's alright :))  
Reviews: 116 (Does a happy dance)

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The sun shone into the room lighting it up. Gabriella woke up but did not open eyes since she didn't actually want to get up. Gabriella rolled over and collided into another body. Gabriella furrowed her eyebrows and her eyes shot open as soon as she realised that someone's hand was under her t-shirt and wrapped around her stomach. Gabriella's eyes snapped open 

Gabriella looked to her side. There was someone next to her… a man. Gabriella freaked out and screamed. The man next to her snapped his eyes open as soon as he heard her scream.

"Who the hell are you?" Gabriella asked as soon as she laid eyes on the man who was sleeping next to her. It was then Gabriella realised just how hot the man was. He had a mix of dark brown and dark blonde hair that was cut to the side so that it slightly covered his right eye. He also had the deepest azure eyes that held great intensity in them. He had thin, quite pinkish lips. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him. He was so handsome.

While Gabriella was taking in Troy's appearance he was taking in hers. She had a mix of dark and light brown hair. The curls in her hair reached down past her breasts and seemed to have a life of their own. She had deep chocolate eyes that seemed to be so much more innocent than his. She had thin red lips and her cheeks were slightly red. He couldn't take his eyes off her. He was amazed that he didn't notice just how beautiful she was the night before. To him she was the most attractive woman he had ever seen. She was drop dead gorgeous. It was then that Troy realised he was staring at her and hadn't actually answered her question. He cleared his throat before giving her a response.

"I'm Troy Bolton."

"Oh," was all Gabriella said. "I'm Gabriella Montez," she then said shyly.

"Yeah I know," Troy said in a bored tone before getting of the bed and making his way to the ensuite. He locked the door behind him. Gabriella stared at the door a little annoyed at the fact that he was acting quite cold to her. She was also confused as to how she got inside and why he was sleeping next to her. When she heard the door open and saw him step out she asked something he hoped that she wouldn't.

"How comes you weren't home when I arrived?" Gabriella asked staring straight into Troy's eyes. Gabriella watched as Troy tried to come up with an excuse.

"I was busy, I had an interview and I just totally forgot you were coming," Troy said lying through his teeth.

"Bullshit," Gabriella said knowing full and well he was lying. She didn't know where all the anger was coming from though. Usually she would stay calm but still be angry. Gabriella was definitely not a fan of swearing but for some reason she got really pissed when he lied straight to her face. Troy was mentally laughing at the fact that their first proper conversation was going to become an argument. He was also mentally praising her for standing up for her rights.

"Well what can I say?" Troy replied in a voice to Gabriella that seemed to imply that he didn't care very much.

"Well you could start by apologizing for leaving me out of the house for god knows how many freaking hours and then for lying straight to my face when we just met!" Gabriella shouted.

"How do you know I'm lying?" Troy questioned his tone of voice not changing since he last spoke, he was amazed though that she was able to already decipher when he was lying. However he wasn't trying very hard.

"Do you really think that I'm not as freaked about this whole arranged marriage as you? Do you think that I am stupid enough to believe that you 'forgot' that I was coming when I had called you for the address half an hour before arriving? Do you think that I just thought your mobile happened to be off? What the hell were you thinking sleeping next to me after you made me sit outside and wait for you to come back to the house?" Gabriella said getting everything off of her back. Troy stared at her with a face showing absolutely no emotion. He simply smirked which spurred Gabriella to think that he found the situation funny. "Stop smirking it isn't funny, I'm being serious here,"

"I know, if you had just given me a chance to reply you would've seen that I took it seriously," Troy said looking at his watch. Gabriella simply made a noise at what he said. "So you want to know the truth. Well I now know you aren't as stupid as other girls I have dated so I won't try that excuse again anytime soon. I indeed turned off my mobile so that you wouldn't bother me again with your stupidity. What person moves to another state and doesn't know the address of where they are going to live? And I totally was not my fault that I slept next to you, that was totally your fault. Let's just say I already have you _hooked_ on me. Oh call your family and ask them to book a flight so that they arrive here tomorrow."

"What? Why?" Gabriella said deciding to just forget about the argument since it seemed as though Troy had ended that conversation.

"Dad said that they needed to discuss wedding crap with them," Troy said expressionlessly as he walked out of the room. "Don't worry about the cost I'll pay for the trip!" Troy called as he headed down the stairs. Gabriella was still slightly mad but then when she thought about what had just occurred she burst out laughing. She had made herself seem like a whiny, full of anger, pissed very easily person. Gabriella decided not to dwell on the fact that their first meeting was not as great as she expected and looked around the room for her clothes. When she couldn't find it she checked the other rooms and found it in a different bedroom that was probably intended for her. As she walked back into the hallway she searched the rooms again to find where the shower was.

Once Gabriella had taken her shower and chosen to wear a plain red top with ¾ jeans she went down the stairs to find the kitchen and make herself some peanut butter sandwiches. Once she had finished her breakfast she found the house phone and dialled her parents' number.

**WITH TROY**

Troy arrived outside Chad and Taylor's mansion. He took out his key to Chad's house that Chad had given to him in case of an emergency. Troy walked into the living room to a site he had hoped he wouldn't see again after the last time. Chad and Taylor were in the middle of the room kissing when Chad noticed Troy in the room. He broke away from Taylor to speak to Troy.

"Hey Troy! Wassup?" Chad asked. Taylor turned around and greeted Troy as well. They had both been interrupted by Troy so times that they didn't find it awkward anymore when he caught them in the act.

"Great. Where is Jennifer?" Troy questioned.

"She's asleep," Taylor instantly replied.

"You do know we only gave you that key in case of emergency," Chad stated grinning at his best friend of seven years.

"It is an emergency! God the woman is driving me nuts!" Troy joked.

"Wait what women?" Chad and Taylor said simultaneously. Troy rolled his eyes.

"The future Mrs Troy Bolton."

"No way, she's already here?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah she came home yesterday. I locked her outside as I stayed at the café flirting with Paris Hilton!" Troy said cracking up in laughter however he didn't really find it funny at all. He actually thought he was extremely stupid for doing it. Chad joined in on the laughter while Taylor stood there frowning.

"Troy that really wasn't very nice. I feel sorry for the woman. Wait did you say Paris Hilton? When did you hit it off with her?" Taylor said suddenly forgetting about the future Mrs Troy Bolton.

"I just met her at the café and then she just sort of threw herself at me and gave me her number," Troy said as though it wasn't a big deal. Taylor suddenly remembered about Troy's fiancé.

"Troy if you so as think about kissing this Paris or whatever girl other than your soon to be wife I will personally hunt you down and kill you. Troy just be faithful to this woman you never know she might be the one. Anyway when are you getting married? And when are you going to get her an engagement ring?" Taylor enquired.

"Whoa! Calm down Taylor. I'm not gonna cheat, it was just a laugh. Did you really think I would get off with Paris? Come on give me some credit. I would rather get off with Britney and her life has gone to pot. The engagement ring? I never even thought about it. I'll probably go now and get it." Troy said. He grabbed his keys and left after bidding his friends goodbye.

**WITH GABRIELLA**

Once Gabriella had asked her parents to book a flight that night she decided to go watch some television. Gabriella plopped down onto the couch and used the remote to go to the news channel. At first it was quite boring as they were talking about the weather which was always going to stay sunny in L.A. However it soon moved on and Gabriella saw a picture of herself on the news! Someone had taken a picture of her when she had fallen asleep outside the house. They were wondering who she was on the news! However then they moved onto show a picture of Troy holding Paris Hilton's hand across the table in a café. So that was where he was when Gabriella was sitting outside.

Just as she turned off the television Troy came through the front door. He walked into the living room when he noticed that Gabriella was there. As he walked up to her Gabriella spoke up.

"Are you with someone else?" The question caught Troy off guard.

"What?" Troy asked confused.

"I asked if you were with someone."

"No, why would you think that?" Troy said plopping himself down onto the couch.

"Well then what were you doing with Paris Hilton," Gabriella said whilst wrinkling her nose when she said Paris Hilton.

"Chatting," Troy said going back to his bored tone.

"About?" Gabriella said getting annoyed again.

"Things that aren't your business," Troy stated. "It was just a harmless chat okay?"

"Fine but why did you ditch me to go chat to her?" Gabriella said in a hurt voice.

"I dunno I just wanted to leave the house and I just wanted you to feel a little bit of pain so that you could feel remotely like I do about this whole marriage," Troy said before throwing her a small box that Gabriella caught. "I'm going outside to the court to play some hoops, don't interrupt me."

Gabriella stood confused at how quickly the conversation had ended and what Troy had just told her. He absolutely hated the idea of marriage? So why the hell did he agree? As Gabriella though about why he was doing it she suddenly remembered to box he had thrown to her. She opened it and gasped. Inside was a beautifully cut engagement ring. It had a round shaped diamond that had absolutely no scratches on it. It was flawless. It was absolutely beautiful and brought tears to Gabriella's eyes.

* * *

Okay well there you have it. I guess you thought that she would get the engagement ring in a more romantic situation. I promise that all the romantic things will be happening later on in the story. Until then it isn't very romantic at all. Oh god could you guys actually picture Paris Hilton with Zac Efron? That would be absolutely disgusting! The picture of the diamond is in my profile.

This chapter is named after the song Stranger by Hilary Duff. It is a very good song. Also I just want to say thank you for the number of reviews it blew me away. I hope you liked the chapter.

Author recommendation:  
To Help A Friend by HSMandChelseaFCfan


	7. You Could Be Happy

**You Could Be Happy**

Disclaimer: Nope!

(A/N I just want to apologise to everyone for how long it took to update. I had written this next chapter but I then lost it and I have no idea how! I then had writers block for a little while and then I had exams all last week and this week! To make it up this chapter is longer than any before! Also some people were inquiring what happened to my other story and I am sorry to say that something went wrong and would not allow me to upload it once it had deleted it. I am sorry to all those who enjoyed the story. I probably won't start a new story for a while because I need to focus on this one. Also updates might take longer, hopefully not as long as it took to update this time. Oh and a big thank you to all the reviewers! You guys blow me away.)

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* * *

Gabriella woke up the next day in the bed that was in the guest room and for some reason she wasn't as comfortable when she woke up as she was the day before. She looked at the ring that was on her left hand ring finger. She still couldn't believe that she was going to get married everything was still a big blur.

Gabriella rubbed her eyes and swung her legs over the side of the bed before getting up and going to the ensuite to have a shower. Gabriella turned the shower on and relaxed as the water hit her tanned Filipino skin. Gabriella walked out of the bathroom and back into her room and picked out the clothes she was going to wear. It was only when she looked at the clock that she remembered her family was coming to talk about the wedding. It was 11 and her family were coming at 12:30pm. Gabriella raced out of her room to the room which she knew belonged to Troy Bolton.

As she flew open the door she stopped in her tracks and stood very still. There in front of her was Troy Bolton only wearing a plain white towel around his waist. Gabriella couldn't take her eyes away from his well toned body. She hadn't really though about whether or not he was well built under his shirt or if he had a six pack but seeing his bare top half she thought that maybe she was in heaven and was staring at her perfect man. Troy's hair was wet and spiking up and looked messy, not a bad messy but a good messy, a sort of natural look that most people couldn't pull off.

"I suggest you learn to knock before entering someone else's room," Troy said with a hint of amusement in his voice as he noticed Gabriella staring at him. Gabriella just about registered what Troy said but still managed to stumble upon her words.

"Oh… umm.. God… I'm s-ss so s-sssorry, I'll just leave," Gabriella said turning around.

"No don't what's the point, you might as well say what you wanted to say," Troy said as he searched his wardrobe for a good t-shirt.

"I was just wondering if you know maybe… I mean I can understand if you don't want to… but you probably don't… you might I don't know" Gabriella said rambling.

"Spit it out Montez," Troy said in a harsh tone but on the inside he found her so cute at the way she was scared to ask him something. It was then that he noticed she was wearing the ring he had gotten her. It looked perfect on her hand. He let out a small smile that went unnoticed by Gabriella.

"I called my mum yesterday and I told her to come here today with the rest of the family like you asked me to ask her and the thing is they're going to be in here in an hour and fifteen minutes but I can't pick them up because I haven't got a car," Gabriella said shyly looking at her feet unable to look at Troy.

"So you were wondering if you could borrow my car," Troy finished.

"Yeah," Gabriella said quietly, "only if you don't mind,"

"It's alright, I'll take you. I have to pick up my parents at 12:40 anyway."

"Thank you Troy," Gabriella replied softly but genuinely.

"It's okay, oh how many people are coming from your family?" Troy asked.

"Umm, four I think. Why? Is that a problem?" Gabriella said with worry in her voice. Troy that it was cute how she would get worried about anything that he asked as though she was scared he was going o yell at her.

"No, it's just so I know how many seats will be needed in my car and since there will be eight of us I should take my people carrier (jeep)," Troy replied.

"Oh okay, well I guess I'll leave you to get changed," Gabriella said slightly blushing as she left Troy's room. Troy let out a little chuckle and took her advice and finished getting changed.

* * *

Half an hour later Troy and Gabriella walked into Troy's garage and entered his vehicle.

"Wow you have loads of cars," Gabriella said, "all of which I really like. Oh especially that one pointing to an Audi convertible as they drove out onto the driveway. Troy looked at the car that Gabriella was pointing at; it was indeed also one of his favourites.

"You can have it," Troy said.

"What?" Gabriella said a little shocked.

"I said you can have it."

"No, I can't possibly accept this. You've already paid for my family's flight here and for what I can only this beautiful engagement ring that must have cost a hell of a lot. I just can't accept an amazing car as well," Gabriella said sincerely. Troy smiled; at least she wasn't a gold digger.

"Gabriella it wouldn't be practical if you didn't have a car since I won't always be around to take you to places and I expect that you will be starting work soon and you will need some form of transport to get there preferably a car. What would be the point in buying another car just for you when I have tons?" Gabriella smiled at the way her name rolled of Troy's tongue, she liked it.

"I guess, I just feel a little uncomfortable with using your money that you worked really hard for already when were not even married yet, not that I would spend all your money once we are married," Gabriella said her eyes growing at the mistake she had made. Troy let out a small chuckle at Gabriella's behaviour.

"It's no problem, seriously I have way too much money that I don't spend," Troy said genuinely before leaning forward to turn the radio on.

Before long they both arrived at the airport and were waiting for Gabriella's family. Troy was watching Gabriella's every movement. She sat on the edge of the seat and kept shaking her feet. She was staring at spot and seemed to be lost in thought. The plane had landed and people were piling out with their luggage.

All of a sudden Gabriella jumped up and went running up to a woman that had dark brown hair who looked slightly like Gabriella but much older. Troy predicted this was her mother. Gabriella then hugged a man that Troy figured was her father. Next she moved onto a guy who looked a few years older than Gabriella and then another guy that was a bit younger than Gabriella.

It seemed as though it was then that it hit Gabriella remembered Troy was there. She turned her head to look a Troy. He looked as though he was off in his own world as he was staring at one spot on the floor. She half expected the floor to spontaneously combust by how hard his gaze was. She dragged her family off to see Troy. Hopefully things would turn out alright.

"Troy," Gabriella called out getting Troy's attention, "This is my mum, my dad, my brother Dean and my other brother Sam." Gabriella pointed to each other as she introduced them to Troy.

"Hey, I'm Troy. It's great to see you Mr and Mrs Montez and you too Sam and Dean," Troy said shaking each of their hands. Gabriella was thrilled that he was being nice to them but she couldn't ignore the slight twinge of sadness that she was feeling. He had been nicer to her parents and brothers than he had been to her when they first met.

"Oh please call me James and my wife Anna," James said politely. Troy smiled.

"Sure," he replied simply, "I hope you don't mind but we have to wait about another ten minutes before my parents arrive.

"Sure no problem," Gabriella's mum finally spoke up. Troy turned his attention to Dean who was staring at Troy as though waiting for Troy to slip up so that he could make Troy out to be the worst guy ever. He was definitely one of those overprotective brothers. It was then that Sam spoke up.

"Hey I know this is a really stupid and all since your gonna be my brother-in-law soon but do you think I could have your autograph?" Sam asked. Troy laughed.

"Yeah definitely," Troy said. As he signed the paper that Sam had given him, Sam spoke again.

"The fake at the championship game last year was awesome." Troy smiled.

"Thanks, glad to know you're a basketball fan," Troy answered.

"Yeah we all are in the family; I must say congratulations are in order for the record number of baskets you made against the New York Knicks the last season. Even if we're meant to be Knicks fans." Dean said. Troy could tell he had been debating whether or not to comment.

"Really? I didn't think Gabriella knew anything about basketball," Troy commented.

"Oh everyone in the family but Gabriella knows a lot about basketball. Gabriella knows zilch," James said. Gabriella scowled and blushed slightly. Troy looked past Gabriella to see his parents had arrived. Troy walked past Gabriella and called out to his parents.

"Mum, Dad!" Troy had successfully gotten their attention. They walked over to Troy. Troy hugged his mum and dad.

"How's Camilla?" Troy asked his mum.

"Oh she's fine but she has homework to do so we left her with your grandma and grandpa," Lucille answered.

"This is Anna and James, Sam and Dean," Troy said mimicking exactly what Gabriella had done ten minutes ago.

"It's great to meet you," Lucille greeted them with a smile.

"I haven't introduced you to Gabriella before have I?" Jack asked his wife.

"No you haven't," Lucille replied her tone changing slightly.

"Oh well then this is Gabriella," Troy said pointing to his side where Gabriella was currently situated. Lucille smiled although Troy seemed to be the only one who noticed that it was fake. He made a mental note that he needed to talk to her about it.

"It's nice to meet you Gabriella," Lucille said in quite a strict voice that Dean frowned slightly at before dismissing it.

"Hey, it's nice to meet you too," Gabriella said quite cheerfully.

"Okay well then let's leave now rather than hanging around at the airport," Troy said. Everybody agreed and piled out of the airport and loaded their luggage into the people carrier.

* * *

Troy opened the door to his mansion and walked in. Everybody else followed suit.

"Wow your house is huge!" Sam exclaimed.

"Yeah it's really big for just one… I mean two people," Troy said looking over at Gabriella who didn't seem to have noticed his slip up. However Dean noticed his mistake and arched his eyebrows.

"Why don't you all make yourselves comfortable in the living room which is just around the corner," Gabriella suggested.

Everybody entered the living room and sat down on the sofas. There were a few minutes of silence where no one knew what to say.

"Why don't we talk about the wedding date?" Jack suggested.

"Sure! Well now it's the end of September. So maybe a summer wedding would be the best, so around August how does that sound?" Anna suggested.

"Oh that's much too early I say we should wait at least a year and a half!" James replied.

"I agree with James," Lucille chimed in. Gabriella was looking at Troy and saw that his eyes had gotten larger when her father had suggested waiting a year and a bit. She also noticed that he had been making eye contact with his father as though he was sending a message to him through his eyes without saying a word. She just dismissed his behaviour and decided to join in the conversation.

"Actually I was hoping to get married during the winter," Gabriella commented.

"You mean next year's winter?" Anna asked.

"No I mean this winter mum (mom, for some people)," Gabriella said holding eye contact with her mum.

"But Gabriella that's like in three months."

"I know but my dream wedding was for it to take place in the winter. Plus it's sort of like the end of part of my life and the beginning of the next part and what better time than just before a new year?" Gabriella was surprised to hear who spoke next.

"I agree with Gabriella," Troy stated. Everybody looked at Troy amazed at how both he and Gabriella wanted the wedding earlier. They had all presumed that they would like a while to see if they felt anything for each other before getting married.

"Well then that's settled the wedding will be in December what date though?" Jack enquired.

"December 28th," Troy announced.

"Why then?" Gabriella asked genuinely intrigued why he chose that date.

"Well I wanted it after Christmas since that area is hectic enough and we needed some time to plan the wedding and it's just before New Years Day which like you wanted will be technically be like the start of our marriage," Troy stated.

"Well then it's perfect, December 28th it is." The parents carried on talking about preparations for the wedding whilst Gabriella was half-listening and half looking at Troy. He seemed to have spaced out and stopped commenting at all. All of a sudden she noticed him sneakily take out his mobile phone and start texting someone. Gabriella leaned over subtly to see what Troy had written without him noticing that she was looking. The text message read:

**Sharpay! Save me! Come 2 my house with an excuse ASAP!**

Gabriella was confused. What did he need an excuse for? Gabriella was then brought out of her thoughts when Lucille asked her a question.

"Umm… sure," Gabriella answered. Lucille stared at her weirdly.

"Gabriella I asked you which colour you preferred to base your wedding around orange or grey." Gabriella could hear Troy snickering at her mistake and so she turned her head and glared at him. He stopped immediately but when she turned her head back to Lucille she could hear him laughing again.

"Uh sorry… wasn't paying attention there. don't like either colours I was hoping to have red as the theme."

"Well then why didn't you say earlier when we were talking about having red as the colour for the wedding?" Lucille exclaimed. Gabriella just blushed lightly and looked away. Just as Lucille was about to snap at Gabriella again, somebody came into the room.

"Hey guys and whoever you are," Sharpay said acknowledging Gabriella's family. "And whoever you are," Sharpay said this time referring to Gabriella. "Uh… Troy's needed by the basketball coach something about extra practice since the championships are starting soon. He told Zeke and Zeke asked me to tell Troy."

"Sure Sharpay," Lucille said kindly. Gabriella wondered why Lucille was much nicer to this blonde girl and not to her. Was it because she was blonde? Should she become blonde? Gabriella couldn't though it just wouldn't go with her skin. Troy got up to leave with a grin on his face. He put his arm around Sharpay's shoulder and left the room. Gabriella felt a pang of hurt run through her body. He was touching this girl but he wouldn't touch her (not in that way you sick people! lol). Damn it, he hardly even spoke to her.

Once Troy had left, the people left behind continued with their conversation.

"I think we should the ceremony at the local church," James said.

"No I think the beach, it's more romantic!" Anna replied.

"No just have it in the garden!" Lucille added.

"No have in France, that's the most romantic place." Jack said.

"No, local church!"

"Beach!"

"Garden,"

"France!"

"Beach!"

"Garden!"

"Local Church!"

"France!"

"Enough! I am going to plan this wedding by myself and I do no want to here another word escape from any of you. Now get out of this room and go somewhere so that I can be left in peace to plan this wedding!" Gabriella shouted. It was only when everybody had left that Gabriella had realised that she had just shouted at Troy's parents… her in-laws. Great, just great her first impression to her in-laws would be that she was a whiny, moany cruel bitch. Just perfect this was a cherry on the top of a fantastic day.

When Troy's and Gabriella's family had come home a few hours later they saw Gabriella asleep on the sofa in the living room. Dean picked her up and led her up the stairs and into the first room that he saw. He placed her on the bed and hoped that this was her bedroom and not somebody else's. He then left to find a guest bedroom where he could stay.

Troy got back from Sharpay's and Zeke's at one in the morning. He crept up to his bedroom hoping not to wake anybody up. Once he was in his room he noticed that somebody was sleeping in his bed. As he got closer he noticed that it was Gabriella. Since he couldn't be bothered to move he just stripped down to his boxers and got into the bed with Gabriella. He then turned the opposite direction that Gabriella was sleeping in and drifted off into peaceful slumber.

* * *

I've made Lucille mean! I wanted to try something new but I promise you she will become nicer! They way we love her. Also this is definitely A Troyella story and not Troypay like it might have seemed in the middle somewhere anyway Sharpay is married to Zeke remember! The chapter is named You Could Be Happy, a song by Snow Patrol. Anyway reviews are always welcome!

Author recommendation:  
The Road Not Taken by WoundedSparrow


	8. Meeting Place

**Meeting Place**

Disclaimer: I own absolute shit! Oops mind my language just a bit pissed off that I still don't own High School Musical.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed because reviews make me ever so happy! Also I have to give a huge apology for not updating sooner. I can't believe I haven't updated in 7 months. I feel absolutely terrible. I went to see High School Musical at the West End in London a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Also been watching a lot of the Olympics and I just saw Michael Phelps get his eight gold medal… I love him! Even though he isn't British I still love him! I have got to change my display name to Mrs Michael Phelps now!

* * *

Gabriella awoke the next day to find that she wasn't in her room… she was actually in Troy's. She turned to her side but was only greeted by the other half of the bed which was absolutely empty.

Gabriella sighed before getting up and going into the shower, she was going to have a very warm shower to release all the stress she had built up trying to plan an amazingly annoying wedding.

Meanwhile Troy was out running and was soon making his way back to his mansion. Just as he reached the gates he was bombarded by the paparazzi.

"Troy who is that woman who was sleeping on the doorstep of your mansion the other day?" one asked.

"Is she living with you?"

"Is she your girlfriend?" another asked.

"How long have you been dating?" a woman with glasses furiously writing on her note pad asked.

"Mr Bolton have you impregnated this woman, is that why you are having to put up with her?" another woman asked with disgust in her voice as she clicked away on her camera.

"No comment!" Troy shouted. "Well, okay one comment," Troy said changing his mind as the paparazzi went crazy at the thought of what he was going to tell them. "I've most certainly not impregnated Ga…" Troy stopped his sentence as he realised he was about to say Gabriella's name. The paps would have gone crazy (with joy) if he had. Instead Troy settles with "her." Troy then decided to add, "She's very nice!" He then added a wink along with his trademark smirk.

With that Troy walked back into his home. He ran upstairs hoping to go back to sleep. He headed back into his bedroom and came across a sight he hadn't been expecting to see so early in his relationship with Gabriella.

"Well who would've thought the tables would turn around the very next day," Troy stated making himself known to Gabriella. Gabriella instantly turned around to face Troy who was leaning against the wall. Troy smirked as there in front of his eyes was Gabriella in only a towel wrapped around her chest and ending half way down her thighs. Gabriella's eyes widened, yes the tables had definitely turned around since yesterday.

"Err. umm Troy," Gabriella barely made out. She was feeling extremely embarrassed. He could see a lot of her body and that thought scared her shitless. What if she was really ugly compared to all the other women he had been with? Gabriella was praying that the towel wouldn't come undone and fall or else she would die of embarrassment.

Troy however was having very different thoughts. All he could think about was how hot she was… hot wasn't giving her enough credit though. That's was when the word beautiful popped inside his head. Wait did he just say in his head that he thought she was beautiful? Troy Bolton does not call women beautiful! He calls them hot or sexy or even cute, just not beautiful. But her legs were beautifully tanned, they were sleek and he was glad to know that she shaved her legs. Her calves were perfectly formed.

Troy suddenly went back into his usual mode and sauntered over to Gabriella. He got extremely close to Gabriella so that she could feel his breath on her neck. In Gabriella's opinion he was dangerously close.

"I see I've already got you stuttering," Troy said softly. Gabriella tried so hard to make sure that she wouldn't stutter when she decided to reply to him but then realised her breathing had become irregular. God she hadn't even kissed this guy and already he had her turning into jelly.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Gabriella managed to get out. Troy raised his eyebrows at her comment but didn't reply instead he moved his hand under her towel stroked her inner thigh. Gabriella took in a sharp breath at the contact. Painfully slowly (for Gabriella's liking) he let his hand glide up her thigh.

Just as it was about to reach her special area he took his hand away. "You, my dear have got a wedding to plan," Troy said mockingly.

Gabriella let out a breath, pissed that he had taken his hand away. "Yeah." Troy turned to leave when Gabriella called out to him. "Are you doing anything tonight?" Troy narrowed his eyes at her question.

"Why?" he answered.

"I just wanted to know so that when I cooked dinner…" Gabriella said trailing off.

"Yeah, I'm actually going round to Chad's. My friends and I are chilling there tonight."

"Oh okay," Gabriella said disappointment evident in her voice. Troy turned to leave again but just as he was about to cross the threshold he spoke up.

"Hey Gabriella, do you want to join me?" Troy asked turning to look at Gabriella. Gabriella's face lit up in delight.

"Sure!" she said excitedly.

"Okay well then make sure you're ready at six. It's just casual." Troy said finally leaving the room so that Gabriella could get changed.

* * *

**6 PM**

Gabriella was ready; she had gone for some simple black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt with a skull on it. Her hair was simply clipped back. She liked the look.

"My oh my you look sexy when you're gothic. My friends are going to be shocked!" said Troy from behind Gabriella.

"Well what can I say I like trying out new things and what do your friends have against people dressed in black?" Gabriella said amused.

"Nothing! It'll just be a little surprising for them. They'll get over it though as soon as they realise you're not… weird."

"Okay well we better go," Gabriella suggested.

"I'm driving!" Troy called first.

"Oh man!" Gabriella said annoyed that she hadn't thought of calling it first. She was amazed at how suddenly their behaviour towards each other had changed over a few days. It was weird she felt like she knew him a bit more since two days ago but she knew absolutely no more now than she did then. There was still that silence between them but it wasn't as uncomfortable as it first was.

As Gabriella was sitting in the car she came to the conclusion that she needed to learn more about Troy.

"So, basketball, how did you get into that?" Gabriella asked. Troy's eyes turned away from the road to look at Gabriella. However as suddenly as they looked her they looked away again.

"I dunno, my dad was the basketball coach at my high school and well I guess I had enough talent to make me the captain," Troy replied modestly.

"Tell me about your friends," Gabriella stated.

"Okay, well there's my friend Chad who is also in the LA Lakers. He's, well how do I put it? He's not the cleverest person you'll ever meet. Then there's Chad's wife Taylor who is practically the opposite of Chad since she was on the scholastic decathlon team in high school," Troy said as he chuckled.

"Oh my God I was on the scholastic decathlon!" Gabriella declared.

"No way!" Troy exclaimed, "Oh God Chad said that I would end up with a geek."

"Oi I am not a geek!" Gabriella said in a fake hurt voice as she lightly hit Troy's arm.

"Yeah right, anyway then there is my best friend Sharpay who is probably the only one out of all of my friends that can read me so easily. Sometimes it's annoying and other times it's good. She's married to Zeke who owns his own restaurant Alexandros. He was on the basketball team back in high school. There is also Ryan who is Sharpay's brother however he moved to New York a little while ago. Chad and Taylor have a two month old baby and Sharpay and Zeke have a six month old baby girl," Troy explained.

"What about the people in your family?" Gabriella asked enjoying finding out about her husband-to-be's life.

"Well there's mum and dad who you've met and my ten year old sister Camilla, who you'll hopefully meet soon, what about you?" Troy asked.

"I have a mum and dad too and two brothers. One is older than me and the other is younger. Dean is 25 years old and Sam is 20 years old. Okay now it's time for simple questions. What's your favourite colour?" Troy glanced at Gabriella again before answering.

"Red you?"

"Blue," Gabriella said before connecting with Troy's eyes. "Middle name?"

"Alexander, you?"

"Anne," Gabriella replied.

"Okay we need more personal questions," Troy said growing bored with the trivial questions and wanting know more about Gabriella's life. "How old were you when you had your first kiss?"

Gabriella hesitated slightly before answering, "Sixteen, and you?"

"Twelve, I was quite the handsome kid," Troy said as Gabriella rolled her eyes at the joke. "What is your most annoying habit?" Troy asked. Gabriella had to think about.

"Correcting people's grammar," Gabriella said while laughing. "What about you?"

"Probably being too arrogant," Troy said truthfully.

It was then that Gabriella noticed that Troy had started to park the car, it seemed as though they had reached their destination.

"I thought you said Chad was in the NBA along with you?" Gabriella asked.

"He is," Troy replied a little confused as to why she was bringing in up all of a sudden. "Why?"

"It's just that his house is way smaller than the one we live in," Gabriella asked confused. Troy started to rub the back of his neck and looked as though he didn't know what to say. "What? Did I say something wrong? You're rubbing the back of your neck with your palm which means you're nervous or don't know what to say," Gabriella stated. Troy was surprised that she had already learnt what rubbing the back of his neck meant.

"No, it's just… it's nothing. Our house is bigger because I earn more money than Chad does on the team. I actually earn the most on the Lakers team," Troy said as he rang the doorbell.

Gabriella had let out a small smile that went unnoticed by Troy about the fact that Troy had called the house theirs. She had purposely avoided calling it theirs since she was still unsure if he thought of his house as their house. Just then the door opened interrupting Gabriella's thoughts.

Gabriella looked up and saw an African American open the door. More to the point, an African American she had already met on the plane to Los Angeles by the name of Taylor.

* * *

So I know this really wasn't great and I am truly sorry for not updating in so long. I have been receiving your PMs even if I haven't replied to all of you. I am just not as big a Troyella fan as I was a couple months back. My favourite pairings tend to change every few weeks/months. Like last month it was Leyton but this month it's Paddison. However I will most likely be a huge fan again when the third film comes out. I have already planned to go see it in the cinemas with my friends for my impending birthday!

The title of this chapter is named after the song Meeting Place by The Last Shadow Puppets.

Author Recommendation: Part Of The Family by heebeejeebees


	9. Scream

**Scream**

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it despite my best efforts.

A/N I saw High School Musical 3: Senior Year on Saturday and absolutely loved it1 In my and many of my friends opinion it was the best of all three. I loved the Rocket, he was so funny, especially in the play! Zac was as hot as ever, nothing new there! I actually cried after the movie due to the fact that High School Musical with this cast was over. There's no more Troyella ! Anyway I know it has been a while since I updated but here it is… at last.

Zeke Baylor – 23 years old  
Alesha Katherine Baylor – seven months  
Jennifer Marissa Danforth – three months

Gabriella's eyes widened at the sight in front of her as did Taylor's. Simultaneously they both jumped up and down as they hugged each other screaming in exultation.

"Oh my God!" They both screamed in synchronisation. Troy wore a face full of confusion.

"Wait, why are you both saying God's name in vain and jumping around like lunatics as if you've just met Zac Efron?" Troy joked. Both women ignored him a s a smile slowly crept on Taylor's face.

"Gabriella I can't believe you're here! What are you even doing here?" Taylor asked glancing at Troy and getting even more perplexed at the fact that Gabriella was there with him.

"Taylor! It's so good to see you. I've been meaning to contact you after you gave me your address. But it just slipped my mind with the whirlwind time I've been having. Especially since I have the wedding to plan," Gabriella explained. A sudden realisation washed through Gabriella as she turned to Troy. "Wait how do you know Taylor?" Gabriella asked directing her question to Troy.

"I was about to ask you the same question. Since you asked first, I'll answer first. I already told you how she was married to Chad and became my close friend. Did I not? Now how do _you _know Taylor?" Troy asked curiously.

"Taylor and I met on the plane journey we took to L.A. Is this the guy you said was having an arranged medicine?" Gabriella said now directing a question at Taylor.

"Yes, what are you doing with Troy?" Taylor said still not realising their connection.

"Taylor how about I introduce her to you?" Troy said. Taylor scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

"Troy you idiot did you just go blind and deaf these last few minutes? I already know who Gabriella is," Taylor said in exasperation. Troy simply rolled his eyes and proceeded to explain.

"Taylor this is my fiancée Gabriella Montez," Troy said. Taylor's eyes widened so that they were almost out of their sockets.

"Oh My God!" she screamed.

"What is all this racket!" Chad said coming round the corner so that he was now in sight of Troy and Gabriella. "Hey man," Chad said giving Troy a man hug. "Who's this?" he enquired nodding in the direction of Gabriella as he heard Taylor muttering words such 'impossible', 'not right' and 'poor girl'. Hearing the few words from Taylor only made Chad's interest peak.

"As I said to Taylor this is my fiancée Gabriella Montez. Gabriella, this is my best friend Chad Danforth," Troy said introducing the two to each other.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Gabriella said timidly but kindly at the same time. Chad didn't reply quite how Gabriella expected.

"Whoa! No fucking way!" Chad cursed.

"Great! Now we have the pleasantries on out the way, can we come in?" Troy asked as if all was well.

"Uh sure," Taylor managed to utter out. Once Gabriella and Troy had set foot in to the house they heard a screech come from behind them.

"Troy!" Sharpay called having just arrived with Zeke behind her. Troy didn't even turn around as he addressed Sharpay.

"Hey Sharpay," replied. Both Zeke and Sharpay entered the house before they noticed Gabriella's presence.

"Hey who's this?" Zeke asked. Troy let out an exasperated sigh.

"I am not listening to another bloody screech!" he claimed before stalking off to another room as Gabriella watched him worried about what to say and whether she had already made a bad impression on his friends. Gabriella looked at Sharpay and gulped. Sharpay was wearing a glittery pink dress that made Gabriella worried about having dressed down. She was simply wearing skinny jeans. She looked a Taylor who was wearing jeans and a lilac jumper over a white shirt. Well at least Taylor didn't look overdressed so maybe she wasn't either.

Gabriella stuck out her hand before saying, "Hi I'm Gabriella Montez, Troy's fiancée, I think that we've met before when Troy sent you that text to get him a way out of the meeting between our parents and then you came in and lied that Troy was needed by his coach," Gabriella said obviously still annoyed.

Sharpay raised her eyebrows and smirked, a reaction that reminded Gabriella of Troy. She could certainly see why Troy had said that Sharpay understood him the most. "I'm sorry about that but you know a friend has gotta do what she can to save another," Sharpay replied not really sorry at all. She ten scrunched up her nose and added, "What horrible clothes you are wearing! Black, who likes black? I have to take you shopping." It was Gabriella's turn to raise her eyebrows at how bluntly rude Sharpay was. Yes she could definitely see the resemblance between Troy and Sharpay. Sharpay then strutted off in the direction of where Troy had gone. Taylor and Chad followed.

"Hey, I'm sorry about Sharpay and some of the rest. They have the best intentions even if it isn't always clear. They're just a bit shocked; they weren't expecting you to come. I know Sharpay seems rude but she really isn't. Believe me I'm married to her and I know she's a real softy at heart," Zeke said comforting Gabriella. "Come on let's join the rest," Zeke said leading Gabriella into a room full of sofas, one of which had Troy sprawling across it. Gabriella couldn't help but smile at the sight and think about sexy he looked. This looked didn't go unnoticed by Taylor who saw the genuine smile and Gabriella's eyes go glazy.

Zeke took his place on the couch that had Sharpay lying on it looking gorgeous, as usual. Chad and Taylor were on another one. Both couples had the male with their arms around their girl. It was at that moment that Gabriella noticed that there was no where to sit. Gabriella tried to get Troy's attention so that she could ask where she should sit through her eyes but he had changed position and was now lying on his back with his arm on his head covering his eyes. Taylor, once again was first to notice Gabriella's problem as she had her eyes focused on Gabriella ever since she entered the room. Taylor coughed to clear her voice. "Troy! Move over Gabriella is gonna sit next to you." Gabriella's body went rigid hearing what Taylor had said. Was she meant to lie against Troy? Or was she meant to ask him to sit up so that she could sit down on the other side?

Gabriella hesitantly walked towards Troy and stopped right in front of him. Troy removed his arm from his head and looked directly looked into Gabriella's eyes. Gabriella's breath hitched as it always did when she was looking straight into his beautiful Carolina blue eyes. Troy looked into her questioning eyes and knew right away that she wasn't sure how she was meant to sit on the couch… something he found quite amusing. Gabriella knew that he understood what her dilemma was and was a tad bit annoyed that he found it amusing but then again she thought it was quite funny how stupid it sounded that she didn't know how to sit on the couch. Troy blinked, keeping his eyes closed just a second longer giving the solution to her through such a simple action. She nodded her head slightly understanding what he was telling her.

Troy grabbed Gabriella's arm to bring her down. Tory moved back and turned on his side so that his back was now against the back of the couch. Gabriella turned around and laid down on the couch so that her back was pressing into Troy's chest. She closed her eyes at the touch surprised at how excitement ran through her body at the simple touch. Had she been facing him she would have seen that he did the same. Troy lightly moved his arm so that it was lightly draped around Gabriella's waist. Gabriella was having trouble breathing as she could feel Troy's breath on the nape of her neck making the small hairs stand up.

Sharpay was observing every movement from afar nonchalantly. To say she was surprised was the understatement of the year. The position that they had taken up gave the impression that the two were boyfriend and girlfriend for years and on the brink of marriage. The position looked so natural for the two as if it was the way they always sat together. She was blown away at how both Troy and Gabriella understood each other without speaking a word. It had taken her a year to master that with Zeke and around five years with Troy. Before Gabriella she was the only one who was able to communicate with Troy using no words.

These same thoughts had run through Troy's head. He had accidentally answered without using words forgetting that she wouldn't understand and yet he saw her nod her head indicating that she understood. His eyes enlarged a little before he grabbed her arm to pull her down. Just touching her had sent a small wave of electricity through his hand but he ignored it thinking that he had imagined it. He moved into position and when he felt Gabriella's back touch him he couldn't help but love the feeling. He moved his arm around her waist so that she wouldn't ever fall off the sofa and simply because he wanted to touch her.

"So whose movie choice is it?" Chad asked being the first to speak up.

"Mine!" Sharpay exclaimed excited. Troy and Chad groaned whereas Zeke seemed normal probably already having seen what film Sharpay had brought with her.

"What is it this time?" Taylor asked excitedly as Gabriella stayed silent.

"The Devil Wears Prada!" Sharpay exclaimed in excitement. Gabriella groaned after hearing what they would be watching. All eyes turned to her and Gabriella suddenly became shy again and worried she had done something wrong. She turned her head slightly so that she could see Troy; he too was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"You don't like The Devil Wears Prada?" Troy asked tentatively quickly glancing at Sharpay who looked as though she had been slapped in the face. Gabriella still didn't know what was wrong but answered his question anyway.

"I don't like chick flicks in general. I'm more of an action or horror film that scares the shit out of me person," Gabriella supplied. Troy smirked at Gabriella's answer and turned his attention to the others.

"You hear that Sharpay?" amusement laced in Troy's voice.

"How the hell is that possible?" Sharpay said still flabbergasted at the revelation.

"Well I just find them a little stupid. I mean I may be a sucker for romance and love happily ever afters but I can see all of that in my imagination, I'd rather watch something that has me laughing or scared as hell. In the case of The Devil Wears Prada, well that girl just annoys the hell out of me. Some of the choices she makes she makes me want to strangle her. I mean sleeping with another guy after having only broken up with her boyfriend the day before is stupidity and before you say she was drunk, I'll counter act it as I don't think that that should make a difference. Plus I don't give much thought to fashion although I must admit I did like a lot of the clothes that she wore in the later scenes." Troy smiled at how cute Gabriella was when she was rambling. Although some of the points she raised were very interesting and Troy couldn't agree more. Cheating was a big no no. There is no excuse for cheating. Well technically it wasn't cheating but sleeping with another person straight after a break up with someone you loved, is a big no no.

Chad, Zeke and Troy laughed at how Sharpay looked as though she couldn't disagree any more. Troy couldn't help but chuckle and pretend to hide behind Gabriella as though he was gonna use her as a shield as Sharpay's wrath is released. Boy, was Gabriella in trouble for saying she didn't care about fashion.

Fear flashed through Gabriella's face as she noticed Troy's actions. Sharpay narrowed her eyes at her. "You don't like fashion?" Sharpay said enunciating each syllable.

"Yes," Gabriella replied weakly.

"You Gabi have earned yourself a whole days worth of shopping with me. Maybe I can knock some sense into you. I'll let the whole chick flick thing slide," Sharpay announced. Gabriella heard the nickname but let it slide as it was what most people called her although she mentally realised that Troy had given her a nickname and well she couldn't really give him one since his name was already short.

Troy burst into to laughter and even though Gabriella was a little worried about what Sharpay had told her she couldn't help but smile a little. She had never seen Troy laugh so much. Troy leant forward so that his lips were at her ear. Gabriella closed her eyes as she felt his lips gently brush against her lips. He whispered in her ear, "I'm so sorry. I should have told you to never say you disliked fashion in front of Sharpay."

Gabriella turned her head towards Troy to find that her lips were mere inches away from his. She forgot what she was going to say. God, they were having one of there first intimate times together like a couple and they had to be surrounded by people. Gabriella vaguely remembered what she was meant to say and quickly said them before she forgot again. "No worries Troy, the punishment can't be that bad," she whispered.

"Oh Gabriella, you've never seen Sharpay in a shopping trip. You are going to a place worse than hell," Troy informed her seriously. Gabriella gulped not liking how Troy described shopping with Sharpay.

The other four in the room watched Troy and Gabriella interact. They observed the expressions on both Troy and Gabriella's faces. They watched Gabriella close her eyes as they saw Troy practically have his lips on her ear. They watched Gabriella turn her head so that she was in the perfect position to kiss him. They couldn't hear them and so they had no idea that there conversation was clearly platonic and not at all related to how their bodies were reacting towards each other.

"So I'm gonna put the movie in," Taylor said as she got up to grab the movie.

"Right," Chad agreed.

Halfway through the film Troy looked down at Gabriella to see that she had fallen asleep and couldn't help but smile at her angelic form. Three quarters of the way through the film. Sharpay turned her head to see that both Troy and Gabriella had fallen asleep. She was pissed but it quickly washed away as she saw how cute Troy and Gabriella looked together. By the end of the film all eyes were on Troy and Gabriella's sleeping forms. During the movie Chad had also fallen asleep.

Gabriella and Troy had changed positions. Troy was now lying on his back on the couch whereas Gabriella was turned on her side and half of her body was on top of Troy. Her legs were tangled in between his. Her head was on his chest and one of her arms was wrapped around Troy's stomach. Funnily enough their breathing was in time with each other like music.

"You know, I think that they could have a future together," Zeke stated. "She's very slowly changing him into a better person."

"I couldn't agree with you more honey, I mean if this is how Troy is acting towards her when he is trying to be hostile I do not want to see them together when they are in love," Sharpay commented.

"When not if?" Taylor said questioning Sharpay's choice of words.

"It's when. I can see it. Troy really likes her even if he doesn't want to. Gabi likes him too and absolutely cannot wait to have sex with him. The number of times she closed her eyes as Troy got close to her or the number of times she would stop herself shivering and her breathing was erratic compared to what it is now," Sharpay said telling everyone her analysis.

Taylor got up and fetched a blanket for the two sleeping on the couch. She laid it across them. Sharpay and Zeke got up and as they were saying their goodbyes they could here Gabriella mumbling something in her sleep. The three of them got closer so that they could here her.

"Mmm… Troy," Gabriella moaned. Zeke burst out laughing.

"Man I cannot wait to tell Troy what Gabriella just said!" Zeke announced but as he said this they heard Troy mutter something as well.

"Gabriella." Sharpay and Taylor smirked and mimicked Zeke.

"We can't wait to tell Gabriella what Troy just said!" they called out simultaneously laughing along the way.

"Okay well Sharpay and I have to go now, Alesha gets very fussy around about now so we have to relieve the nanny. Tell the others we said bye," Zeke said before he and Sharpay departed. Taylor turned around and let out a huge sigh and began waking up Chad up so that they could check up on their child upstairs.

I quite liked this chapter. It was more just fluff and stuff (hey that rhymed!) Man they're not even married yet and that's the end of chapter nine! In a few chapters I'll be skipping a few weeks so that we get to their wedding in December. Anyway I hope you liked this chapter. Please remember to review!

This chapter is named after the song Scream by Zac Efron in High School Musical 3. I loveeeeeee the songs in that film and can't stop playing the soundtrack1 Scream is my favourite but I love A Night To Remember, Now or Never, Can I Have This Dance and Senior Year Spring Musical!


	10. Walk Away

**Walk Away**

**A/N Okay first things first thank you ****Kessy0105 for pointing out that Gabriella works at a fashion magazine but I forgot to explain that Gabriella only writes articles for the music section of the magazine and isn't very involved with the fashion section. Second of all I forgot to say I love the Boys Are Back as well! Now that I think about it though, I love all the songs. The only one that I'm on the fence about is High School Musical. Oh and just a reminder please check out my new Troyella story Family Reunion and my new Troyella one-shot I Belong To You. Thanks.**

**It's my birthday tomorrow so I thought I'd spread the joy by updating! I have to go play tennis at 7 in the morning, isn't that a great way to start a birthday! (I'm being sarcastic.) Oh and please if you haven't already, answer the poll I have on my profile and would like to see other than Troyella what couples people like.**

**Disclaimer: This is really pointless. Me having to confess that I don't own High School Musical and then burst into tears all over again.**

Troy awoke to find Gabriella asleep on him. Before he could reflect on their position the sound of his cell phone could be heard.

_Hear the crowd gettin' loud  
I'm consumed by the sound  
Is it her?  
Is it love?  
Can the music ever be enough?  
Got to work it out  
Got to work it out  
You can do it  
You can do it!  
_  
Troy struggled to get his mobile phone out of his pocket as it happened to be in the exact position where Gabriella was pressed against him. As he moved his hand in between their bodies he brushed her bare stomach where her t-shirt had ridden up. Troy was getting frustrated at the fact that he couldn't get to his mobile without waking Gabriella up. Just as Troy was about to wake Gabriella up she rolled off him so that he was able to get his mobile but as she was turning Troy noticed that she was about to fall off the sofa and so quickly grabbed her around the waist, once again coming into contact with her bare skin.

_I don't know where to go  
What's the right team?  
I want my own dream  
So bad I'm gonna scream!_

_Oh!  
Aahhh_! (My favourite part of the song!)

Troy quickly grabbed his phone out of his pocket just before the ring tone was about to end.

"Talk to me," Troy said into the phone as he readjusted his position and gently moved Gabriella so that she wouldn't fall off the couch. Their legs were still tangled together.

"Oh hey coach… we start up January 9th? That's three weeks before you said we would… okay… a raise? Sure… thanks coach, bye." Troy closed his cell phone and sat there in silence for a few minutes reflecting on the phone call. He only snapped out of t when he felt Gabriella's body shift back on to him, her t-shirt riding up a bit more. Troy continued to stare at Gabriella's exposed skin, when Chad came bounding into the room.

"Yo hoops!" Chad called excitedly.

"Shhhhh! She's still sleeping," Troy said indicating Gabriella.

"Oh sorry," Troy whispered in a hushed voice. "Guess what?"

"What?" Troy asked wearily.

"I got a raise! Coach just called and told me. I'm now earning just a couple hundred thousand pounds less than you!" Chad said smugly his voice gradually getting louder. "Wait did you get a raise as well?" Troy looked at Chad before answering.

"No, no I didn't. I guess coach didn't think I deserved it or because he wants us all to earn an even amount," Troy replied solemnly.

"Yeah, it's probably the second thing since you were on fire in the last season," Chad said happily. "I'm gonna go get some breakfast. Do you wanna join me?"

"Sure, as soon as I detach Gabriella from me," Troy joked as Chad left for the kitchen.

Troy sat still for a few seconds trying to think of the cleverest way to dispatch himself without waking Gabriella up. He decided to remove his legs from in between hers and then work from there. He tried to yank his legs away, not too hard but his effort was useless as Gabriella had her legs gripping his quite tightly. Troy decided using his hands would probably do better. He gently placed them on Gabriella's smooth thigh and picked it up and placed it on the sofa so that it was no longer in between Troy's legs. He then rolled them over so that he fell off the couch with a small thud as Gabriella stayed on. Finally Troy got up and made his way to the kitchen.

As soon as Troy left the room Gabriella's eyes fluttered open. Her face contorted with confusion. She had been awoken at the sound of Troy's ring tone. It was a nice but loud ring tone. It had taken all of Gabriella's will power not to ruin her plan of pretending to be asleep whenever Troy touched her especially when he touched her stomach. But what had Gabriella confused was how Troy had lied to Chad about no getting a raise as she was a hundred percent sure that Troy mentioned getting a raise in his phone call.

Gabriella came to the conclusion to just ask him later when they were alone. She sat up and straightened up her clothes. She did not want to know what she looked like, fearing that it would scare the living daylights out of her. She undid her hair from the mess it was in and quickly tied her hair into a messy bun. She got off the couch and was about to go in search of the kitchen when her mobile went off.

_It's the night of our nightmares  
It's the night of our dreams  
It's too late to back out of it.  
Hey, makeovers, massages.  
Don't know what a corsage is._

_Been waiting all our lives for this._

_Its gonna be a night (can't wait)  
To remember (oh man)  
Come on now, big fun (alright)  
Its gonna be the night (I guess)  
To last forever (lucky us)  
Well never ever ever forget_

_Gettin Ready, Get Gettin Ready_

Gabriella quickly grabbed her phone out of her pocket before the ring tone ended.

"Gabriella here, may I ask who's speaking?" Gabriella said politely into the phone.

"Yo Gabster," Dean replied cheerily bringing a smile to Gabriella's face.

"Hey Dean, how was your flight home?" Gabriella asked.

"It was fine, nothing exciting," Dean replied.

"So to what pleasure do I get this call?" Dean snorted.

"Do you always have to be so suspicious? Anyway stop speaking like a freak; I'm not your boss just your brother but then again you don't need to speak as incredibly politely to your boss anymore since he's gonna be your father-in-law…" Dean carried on rambling until Gabriella cut him off.

"Dean, why'd you call?" Gabriella asked again not so polite.

"Can't a brother call his sister without having a reason?" Dean said innocently.

"Yes they can, but that would be Sam calling me, not you. You only ever call when you want a favour," Gabriella replied getting up to find where Troy, Chad and Taylor were.

"Okay fine, I wanted to know if I was allowed to bring a date with me to your wedding."

"You have a girlfriend! Wow and the womanizer has finally decided to settle down!" Gabriella jeered. She then found the kitchen and saw that Chad and Troy were in there eating cereals looking at her weirdly. "Well congratulations anyway and of course you can bring her to the wedding. What's her name?"

"Andrea and that is all the dish you are getting from me," Dean informed.

"Oh, please please please! You know everything about Troy," Gabriella said as she pouted but soon remembered that Dean couldn't see her.

"I am so glad that I'm not there, or else you'll be doing your famous pout that makes anyone succumb to your needs," Dean explained.

"I do not have a famous pout!" Gabriella said in fake horror.

"Yes you do sis, anyway I'll speak to you later. I've got to go to work. Bye!"

"Bye bro," Gabriella replied before hanging up. Gabriella looked up to see Chad looking at her as Troy looked at his bowl.

"Nice ring tone," Chad commented.

"You could hear that from here?" Gabriella asked puzzled.

"Gabriella I'm sure that people all the way from England could hear it," Troy joked.

"It's not that loud is it?" Gabriella asked shocked. Chad simply nodded his head.

"So, who was on the phone?" Troy asked already knowing who it was.

"Dean."

"Who's Dean?" Chad asked.

"Gabriella's brother," Troy answered shortly.

"Why'd he call?" Chad asked curiously.

"He wanted to ask if he could invite his new girlfriend to our wedding," Gabriella explained standing next to Troy who just finished his cereal and moved towards the sink to wash his bowl. The one sided conversation that Troy had been listening in on made sense now.

It was at that moment Taylor came down the stairs holding a tiny baby girl. Gabriella looked up to see the baby and at the sight her face broke out into a smile.

"Oh, your baby is so cute!" Gabriella called out. "I could just eat her up," Gabriella saw Taylor's face and hastily added "but I won't."

"This is Jennifer. Hey Gabriella," Taylor called getting Gabriella's attention.

"Yeah," Gabriella replied her focus still on the tiny baby as she made little noises that made Jennifer giggle.

"Nice ring tone." At that comment both Troy and Chad cracked up laughing.

"You could hear that?" Gabriella asked astounded.

"Yeah, loud and clear."

"Oh Tay, did you hear I got a raise!" Chad said excitedly. As he said this Gabriella looked at Troy who was looking at Chad and Taylor. This was something Gabriella found weird. When people were guilty or lying didn't they tend to look down on the floor?

"That's great Chad," Taylor replied happily.

"Hey Troy did you get a raise?" Gabriella asked suspiciously. Troy gave Gabriella an intense stare before answering coolly.

"No," Troy said shortly. As soon as that was said everyone could feel the thick tension in the room.

"Oh," Gabriella said in response. Troy continued to look at Gabriella before sharply turning his head to Taylor.

"Hey Tay, we've got to go. Gabriella's got wedding planning to do and have a ton of things to do. I'll see you and Chad as soon as possible," Troy said but just before leaving the room he turned to Gabriella, "are you coming?" Gabriella nodded her head in response.

The car ride home was silent. Gabriella could tell that Troy was trying his hardest to concentrate on the roads as his mind was somewhere else. She didn't want to interrupt his thoughts and so stayed silent. However as soon as they stepped into the house and closed the door behind them, Troy turned on Gabriella.

"What the hell was that?" Troy demanded. His sudden outburst had Gabriella rooted to the spot. She could see the fury flashing in his blue eyes that seemed to have gone a darker shade.

"Ww.. what do you mean?" Gabriella stuttered.

"Why did you have to ask the damn question?" Troy shouted.

"What, the raise?" Gabriella asked not sure why Try was so angry.

"Yes, the raise. You had to ask the question so accusingly." Troy snapped.

"I didn't mean to," Gabriella said in a hurt voice.

"For God's sake. You knew I would be uncomfortable talking about it! We spoke about how Chad doesn't earn as much as me and you knew that I didn't like talking about it!" Troy exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean you can lie to your friends, Troy!" Gabriella yelled back, getting angrier by the second.

"How do you know I was lying?" Troy asked suspiciously.

"Because I heard your conversation on your mobile," Gabriella confessed.

"You were pretending to be asleep?" Troy asked annoyed.

"Okay you are wandering off the topic. You lied to your friends and are yelling at me because I wanted you to tell the truth," Gabriella said a little embarrassed.

"I lied for there own good, to save them from a few days of unhappiness because I earn more. Money always causes conflicts Gabriella!"

"Okay I get that now, but you don't have to yell at me!" Gabriella yelled.

"Gabriella! They probably know that I lied to them now and I know that they'll forgive me but they shouldn't deserve to feel as though I lie to them all the time about how much I earn for their sake. They deserve better. You know what I don't know why I was even gentle with you this morning when I didn't want you to wake up. I should have just thrown you on the floor. Note to self: throw Gabriella on the floor next time she is on you," Troy said viciously. That comment stung Gabriella.

"Yeah, well there won't be a next time!" Gabriella screamed before storming off and slamming her door. Troy sighed loudly feeling the smallest twinge of guilt before leaving the house, slamming the front door on his way.

Gabriella sat on her bed thinking about how everything had changed since the evening before. She had that they were making progress but she was wrong. As people always say one step forward leads to two steps backwards. That was where they were, back at square one.

**Wow so it's getting some more drama. Who would have thought something as measly as a raise could invoke such a fight! Well, money is the root of all problems. I know that the argument wasn't that great, I just find writing arguments really hard! I see them so clearly in my head but when it comes to typing it up it just goes all wrong. I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing so I decided to just leave it crappy and hope that you get the gist of what I was trying to make the argument like. Please leave a review! I love reading every single one of them. Anyway in the next chapter I'll be skipping to December, straight to their wedding.**

**P.S Who likes the new fanfiction format? I think its okay but I didn't really see why it had to change. **

**This chapter is named after the song Walk Away by Kelly Clarkson but I guess you could say it was also from High School Musical 3: Senior Year :D!**


	11. Bad Romance

**Bad Romance**

**Disclaimer: Yes I do own High School Musical! (In my dreams)**

**A/N I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry!!!!! I never discontinued this story but am just the worst updater ever. It's been nearly a year since I updated and I am profoundly sorry. It is unacceptable. I had major writer's block and kind of lost my interest with HSM when the franchise ended. I promise that I will try a lot harder to update more often. Also thank you for the immense number of review, although many of them were begging me to update and here it is... very very late.**

* * *

**2 WEEKS LATER**

Troy had stayed up all night feeling guilty about his plan. He was doing something bad and wrong on so many levels and yet it was as though someone else was taking control of his body, about to do something unforgiveable. The devil in his conscience was telling him that it would be fine and that she would never know about. Everything would be perfect.

Troy was turning the paper around in his hands waiting for Gabriella to come down the stairs and join him in the living room. They hadn't spoken since their fight, both being as stubborn as the other. But Troy had to break his silence for this though. It was something that had to be done before the wedding.

Gabriella sauntered down the stairs in a daze still half asleep. She looked up to see Troy in deep thought but rather than snapping him out of his reverie she decided to ignore him, it was becoming their usual routine.

Troy's eyes looked up as soon as he felt Gabriella's presence, but she was walking away.

"Gabriella, wait!" Troy exclaimed. Gabriella stood still, she wasn't sure whether she imagined Troy calling her name or whether it actually happened. She hadn't heard his voice in two weeks; he couldn't possibly have called out her name. She began to carry on moving when she heard him call her name again and she was sure it wasn't her brain making it up. She turned around to face him.

"Gabriella, I need to speak to you," Troy said solemnly. Gabriella had a small smile on her face. He'd caved first and was going to apologise.

"If we are to get married, I need to know that if it doesn't work out the money that I earned will be safe if we get a divorce," Troy said point blankly. The smile fell from Gabriella's face straight away and her eyes filled with anger.

"Do you think I'm some kind of gold digger? You jackass! Is money all you care about. What about that speech the other day when you were like I can spend your money and then you gave me your car, what happened to that Troy? I was starting to like that Troy?"

"Gabriella, stop being a drama queen and just sign the prenup. What's wrong with it? All it says is that what is mine is rightfully mine and what is yours is rightfully yours," Troy argued.

"Fine, because it will be proof that I'm not here to worm my way to your money and that I'm here for the full ride," Gabriella took the pen that was lying on the table and hurriedly signed the paper that was in Troy's hand.

As Gabriella exited the room Troy felt a sense of relief and immense guilt. Gabriella hadn't signed a prenup. She had signed his contract specifying that this marriage would only last a year; it would only last longer if Troy is satisfied with the marriage. Troy had chickened out of telling Gabriella the truth; he knew she would say no and then he would have to go through this whole process again with another girl who would probably be a worse person than Gabriella. This was the only way he could think of jumping over this hurdle. It had worked like Troy predicted, Gabriella hadn't read what was written on the document as she was blinded by anger and annoyance. She had trusted him enough to not bother reading it and this fact made Troy feel guiltier, if it was possible. It was now too late to turn back.

* * *

**DECEMBER 27****th**

Gabriella couldn't believe that it was her hen night. She was getting married the next day. Christmas had flown by and still neither Troy nor Gabriella had forgiven each other. Every now and then they would mumble a few words to each other but their conversations had no depth. Gabriella had bought Troy a watch for Christmas and he had gotten her a bracelet, both nice presents but weren't extremely sentimental. They were both as stubborn as each other and hadn't gotten over their arguments that had taken place over the last month and half ago.

Kelsi had flown over from New York and with a lot of her cousins had planned Gabriella's hen night. Gabriella had specifically asked for no stripper. So Kelsi had planned to just stay in a nightclub. Gabriella was thoroughly shocked at how many people there were when she entered the nightclub. Sharpay and Taylor had even come even though Gabriella hadn't seen them since her first argument with Troy. The bar was full of balloons and streamers. A huge banner saying 'Have a great wedding Mrs Troy Bolton'. Gabriella blushed deep red whenever she looked at it.

"Gabi, can you believe it? You're gonna be married tomorrow. I myself can't wait. This is the first time I've been maid of honour. Thank you so much Gabi!" Kelsi said ranting about anything at all.

"Hey do you wanna go dance?" Gabriella shouted to the girls, feeling a little tipsy due to the alcohol she had consumed.

**WITH TROY**

"Dude I can't believe you didn't want a stripper!" Chad exclaimed. Troy chuckled in response.

"After seeing the disasters that occurred at both yours and Zeke's bachelor parties I think I would like to stay away from strippers for a very long time," Troy replied.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad!" Zeke denied. Troy just gave him a look in response. "Okay, it wasn't great either," Zeke added.

"Can you believe it though? This time tomorrow the Troy Bolton will be married," Chad announced as they walked into the new club that had just opened.

"I know, the guy who has been on hundreds of flings without one relationship is getting married at 23 years old," Zeke said.

"Yeah, who would have known?" Troy said softly before proceeding to get himself a drink.

* * *

**DECEMBER 28****TH**

Gabriella rolled over in her sleep when she was thrown awake by the scream that left Sharpay's mouth, to get up. Gabriella's eyes snapped open.

"What's all the yelling about?" Gabriella asked annoyed at all the screaming.

"Gabriella, it's your wedding day and you're meant to be awake!" Taylor said waking Gabriella up faster than Sharpay ever could have with those few words.

"Oh my God! What time is it? Am I late? Am I meant to be in my dress already? Is the make up artist here?" Gabriella asked in her panic stricken state.

"5:30 am is the time, no and no," Taylor answered.

"Oh God, I've got to have a shower!" Gabriella fretted as she pulled the duvet cover away and jumped out of bed, the panic never ceasing.

* * *

Troy focused his eyes on a spot on the floor as he zoomed out all the mummuring voices residing in the church. This was it... make or break, fight or flight and there was nothing more Troy wanted to do other than run for his life and never look back. But he had to do this. There was no choice, escape or easy way out. He had to do this for his parents. It was tradition to have arranged marriages in his deranged family. If he ever had a kid, he vowed he would never force this tradition on him or her. Sure, he liked Gabriella... sometimes, but there was nothing more there.

Troy suddenly came out of his reverie at the sound of the wedding march beginning. His blue orbs shot up, to look down the aisle. There she was, Gabriella in all her glory, looking more beautiful than Troy had ever seen. She was literally glowing, well at least radiating light. Troy could not help but stare. He'd known Gabriella was beautiful but this was like supermodel beautiful. When did she get such polished skin? Such beautiful brown eyes? Sleekly brown hair? She was beyond words. After what felt like forever she had reached where he was standing in front of the priest. Troy took Gabriella's hands into his causing her to look up at him. The priest's talk went on forever; at least that's how it seemed to Troy. Troy and Gabriella said their vows, the traditional, unoriginal ones and swapped rings.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Troy leant forward as did Gabriella and as their lips met in the middle for the first time electricity ran through their bodies but only for a few seconds before the kiss ended. It was short and sweet. Everyone clapped with joy and Troy and Gabriella walked down the aisle together and out of the room.

At the reception Troy and Gabriella spoke to the many guests. Gabriella got to meet Troy's sister, Camilla for the first time but the girl was shy and barely spoke three words to Gabriella. Troy and Gabriella danced together a couple of times to the secret delight of both.

Gabriella threw her bouquet in to the crowd and Kelsi was the one to catch it. Troy moved toward Gabriella and slowly lifted up the end of her dress and ran his hands up her leg in search of her garter. Gabriella shivered at the touch and almost moaned at the sensual strokes. Troy was teasing her and was most definitely enjoying Gabriella's reaction and appreciation of his touch. He reached the garter and slowly dragged it down her leg before throwing it to the men in the crowd. Troy faced Gabriella with a grin on his face as Gabriella turned away in chagrin.

As the festivities ended, both Gabriella and Troy returned to the mansion. They had mutually decided that they would not go on a honeymoon as it would be useless since they would not be able to spend it in the traditional way. Instead they would postpone it to a later date.

"Goodnight Troy," Gabriella called before heading towards her bedroom.

"Goodnight Gabriella," Troy called after her before heading to his bedroom.

**I hope you guys didn't mind this chapter; I know it is not my best but I am easing my way back into it. It was really hard to write. I am really looking forward to when the fluff comes because that will be more fun to write... and so will the drama. God it's been like 2 years since I started writing this story and they've only just got married! Please leave a review.**

**This chapter is named Bad Romance after the new Lady Gaga song from the album The Fame Monster.**


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